o:28327 Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on SMEs and possible innovation responses Uticaj kovid 19 krize na MSP i mogući inovativni odgovori en Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the business operations of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia as well as to identify the best ways to overcome the crisis effects and stimulate further SME growth. On a sample of 689 SMEs in Serbia, in the present paper we study the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on both the overall business of firms and certain aspects of their business (demand, logistics, organization of business activities, collection of trade receivables, and access to financing). The results of our research suggest that the crisis effects vary across the SME sector depending on the business activity, size, region an SME operates in, and the extent of achieved business digitalization and networking during the pandemic. Lastly, based on the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the business operations of SMEs in Serbia and taking into account the experiences of other economies with the COVID-19 crisis as well as the lessons learned from previous crises, in this paper we highlight the significance of innovation and possible innovation responses of SMEs to the crisis effects as the ways to overcome it. Sažetak: Cilj rada je analiza uticaja kovid 19 krize na poslovanje sektora malih i srednjih preduzeća (MSP) u Srbiji, ali i identifikovanje načina za prevazilaženje efekata krize i podsticanje njihovog daljeg rasta. Na uzorku od 689 MSP u Srbiji u radu su posmatrani efekti kovid 19 krize na ukupno poslovanje preduzeća, ali i na njihove pojedinačne aspekte poslovanja (tražnja, logistika, organizacija, potraživanja i finansiranje). Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju da efekti krize variraju u sektoru MSP u zavisnosti od njihove delatnosti, veličine, regiona u kome posluju, kao i nivoa postignute digitalizacije i umrežavanja tokom pandemije. Konačno, polazeći od efekata koje je kovid 19 kriza izazvala u poslovanju MSP u Srbiji, zatim od iskustava drugih privreda u pogledu kovid 19 krize, ali i lekcija naučenih iz ranijih kriza, u radu se ukazuje na značaj inovacija i mogućih inovativnih odgovora MSP na efekte krize kao načina za njeno prevazilaženje Keywords: COVID-19, SMEs, innovations, innovation responses of SMEs, Serbia Ključne reči: kovid 19, MSP, inovacije, inovativni odgovori MSP, Srbija 1552099 10.5937/EKOPRE2103169P 2023-03-21T13:15:29.149Z 44 no 46 Blagoje Paunović Univerzitet u Beogradu Ekonomski fakultet 12425575 0000-0002-3215-4499 Zorica Aničić Univerzitet u Beogradu Ekonomski fakultet person 33451367 0000-0003-3420-1399 application/pdf 427159 https://phaidrabg.bg.ac.rs/o:28327 no yes 1 70 92000001 11A03 Ekonomika preduzeća 69 3-4 169 184 2021