BUSINESS STRATEGIES IN TIME OF CRISIS: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS AND TRENDS

This thesis analyzes the existing literature on business strategies, addressing their modification and implementation in a crisis through a systematic literature review (SLR) and empirical case studies. Thus, this thesis aims to explain how firms behave during unforeseen events that can bedevil business going-concern. The plan of action, extensively explored and discussed through the present dissertation, aims to encourage future research in the debate on business strategy during crises - searching for future directions in the strategy field. The preface explains the study’s overarching goal and briefly summarizes the key points of the single-taken papers while emphasizing the connections between them. Three papers compose the dissertation, addressing the following research questions: 1. What business strategies are adopted by SMEs during the different stages of unexpected events? (Paper 1) 2. 2a) Why are some firms more resilient than others in a context of crisis?; 2b) What are the strategies that make them resilient? (Paper 2) 3. 3a) What kind of ordinary and extraordinary CXs take place in a phygital context?; 3b) What flexible and agile strategies can firms use to affect phygital CXs? (Paper3) A comprehensive SLR can be found in the first paper. In contrast, the second and third papers present single-case and multi-case studies. ................ ................ ................