MANAGING THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS BY SLOVAK WOODWORKING AND FURNITURE ENTERPRISES IN THE CONTEXT OF AGILE APPROACH – CASE STUDIES
Abstract
The period of coronavirus pandemic has shown that the ability to implement changes and react in a timely and effective manner, which means being agile, is becoming a prerequisite for both survival and success. The aim of this paper is to highlight examples of good and bad practices among Slovak wood processing and furniture-manufacturing enterprises in overcoming the pandemic crisis through case studies, utilising semi-structured interviews within enterprises and an analysis of changes in financial indicators. The results show that enterprises taking advantage of the increased demand for wood products, as well as those that digitised and optimised their processes, achieved significantly higher sales and profits. Conversely, enterprises that merely tried to maintain revenues without optimisation and innovation worsened their financial situation. The contribution of the paper is an extension of empirical knowledge, examining the impacts of pandemics on the business operations of wood processing enterprises in the context of business agility.
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