Dacuyan, Cristy T.

Entrepreneurial decision-making of micro, small, and medium enterprises in Davao region during the COVID-19 pandemic / Cristy T. Dacuyan - 2022 - 71 leaves

Thesis (BS Agribusiness Economics) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, July 2022

Decision-making is an integral part of any business or organization including the MSMEs. The MSMEs are one of the most important sectors in the economy as this sector provides employment and a source of income to citizens. How-ever, during the COVID-19 pandemic, MSMEs faced difficulties in their operations and need to decide on the best way to survive the pandemic like investing in automation. The objectives of this study are to investigate the decision-making process of MSMEs during the pandemic, determine if it changed during the pandemic, and identify the significant factors being considered in the decision-making to adopt automation. The binary logistic regression was used to identify the significant factors that influence the decision of the 113 MSMEs to invest in automation during the pandemic, and case studies of three MSMEs were administered to supplement the quantitative results and determine the decision-making process of MSMEs. Results show that older firms were more likely to invest in automation, as well as those MSMEs with access to external financial resources such as family and friends, business partners, and digital financial services. Government financial assistance was also significant but has a negative effect on the willingness of MSMEs to invest in automation. MSMEs were also likely to invest in situations where customer needs their product or services, not accessible, no access to supplier, supplier cannot meet demand, and supplier can meet the quality needed. The case studies revealed that MSMEs follow a systematic decision-making process, and this did not change during the pandemic because it was already effective in keeping their business operational during the crisis. Also, MSMEs were more inclined to borrow from informal financial institutions as presented in the quantitative results. Finally, MSMEs already have an effective decision-making process, and they need a financially inclusive environment to enable their innovative activities.


Undergraduate Thesis--ABE 200b