Measuring the Struggle of Small-Scale Businesses in the COVID-19 Environment

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Good paper overall pertaining to COVID-19 and emerging market. Please add the following references in the introduction part to further support economic impact of COVID-19:

 

Estrada et al. (2020) studied ten global markets and caution that the COVID-19 pandemic can result in damages comparable to the 1929 crisis, with a 9–12-month recovery period.  Shehzad et al. (2020) report that the conditional variance of equity markets to be bigger during the COVID-19 compared to the global financial crisis of 2007-2008.  Gurrib (2021) similarly find shocks to the number of COVID-19 cases affected healthcare sector companies but lasted only a few days.  

 

Estrada, M.A.R., Koutronas, E., & Lee, M. (2020). Stagpression: The Economic and Financial Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic, SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3593144 

 

Gurrib, I. (2021). Early COVID-19 policy response on healthcare equity prices. Studies in Economics and Finance, Vol. 38 No. 5, pp. 987-1006. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEF-02-2021-0075

 

Shehzad, K., Xiaoxing, L., & Kazouz, H. (2020). COVID-19’s disasters are perilous than Global Financial Crisis: A rumor or fact? Finance Research Letters 101669.  

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper used descriptive research design which is acceptable for this kind of research. 

I would suggest that authors include discussion on implications of their research findings in the conclusion. They should also provide recommendations to the key stakeholders involved in managing pandemic situations pertaining to small-scale businesses.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

I appreciate the article and the question of small scale activities during 

Pandemic Covid-19

 

INTRODUCTION:

I suggest a split introduction from the literature review.  In the introduction,  I suggest starting with the research needs, the main research questions, and the main aspected findings. I also recommend you specify why you choose the methodology to confirm or disconfirm the hypothesis.

 

METHODOLOGY:

It is well-described and helpful in explaining the research question.

Could it be better to use the Micro Enterprises or Small and medium enterprises? 

 

DISCUSSION: 

I suggest better connecting the findings with the question of economic sustainability and also the change in the small business network. Some policies and limitations of the study could be better explained to increase the reader's impact. A general research finding can be generalised to have the possibility to compare with other territories, having a world vision. 

 

SENTENCES AND FORMATS:

In formatting, please check all the text spaces and English language checks to be more direct and more evident to the reader.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf