RELATED LITERATURE

Local Literature:

Understanding of COVID-19 had a significant direct effect on subjective norms about the preventive
measures implemented in the Philippines Mishra et al., (2020)

The small amount of capital is a good start; there may be chances, an owner’s capable neighbor may be
attracted when the store is earning and open his own the next day. For the legal requirements, we may
find other sari-sari stores unregistered. In fact, the BIR increases their efforts in searching those
unregistered small scale-businesses including sari- sari stores (Tempo Online, 2017)

According to this report, sari-sari stores are usually operated and owned by women micro entrepreneurs
or housewives to support the financial needs of the family (Works of heart [WOH], 2017). Actually, a
greater number of women lead family businesses compared to non-family businesses. In fact, 24% of
family owned businesses are run by women (Pickard-Whitehead, 2017). To achieve this, “sari-sari” store
entrepreneurs unanimously explained the relevance of keeping in touch with their customers every now
and then. Due to the stiff competition of “sari-sari” store business in the Philippines, entrepreneurs
discovered and develop this so called “suki” system where they have permanent patrons. Winning
permanent customers is a difficult task and necessitates a high degree of genuine and true relationship.
Taking care of customers is a silent marketing strategy that businessmen fail to recognize.
Communication skill, people skills, relationship skills, and cultural sensitivity are the best skills under
social aspect. In terms of personal trait, the category involves hard work and self-motivation (Mamabolo
et al., 2017)

Informants reported that entrepreneurship is such a productive venture. Engaging in a micro business
like a “sari-sari” store gave them the opportunity to achieve growth, nourished their skills and increased
productivity. Saleem (2017)emphasized that there are various determinants of business success. In most
cases, economic related indicators involve survival and existence of the enterprise, sales volume, profit
and the total assets acquired. For non-monetary success indicators, itincludes productivity, personal
achievement, growth and consumer satisfaction. For instance, in Kosovo, there are reforms in the
country’s policies in terms of economic development in which it primarily concentrated on mitigating
the unemployment rates in the region and boost domestic productivity. Other important elements that
it targeted to develop are infrastructure, chronic poverty, and business conditions (Haxhiu, 2015).

The moment they initiated entrepreneurial activity, growth and satisfactory performance will be their
next priority. Yet, chances of setbacks and consequences are always possible (Gillis, 2015). The
mushrooming of micro enterprises has significantly afforded livelihood opportunities especially for
struggling Filipino households. Retail stores, widely known as “Sari-sari” stores have flourished in the
Philippines.
Foreign Literature

COVID-19 disruptions do not affect all businesses equally. Some are deemed essential and remain open,
while others have been forcibly shut. For a variety of reasons related to both the underlying nature of
the business and management capacity, COVID-19 poses an existential threat to some and not others.

According to Eggers (2020), most of the studies that focus on finance are concerned with the
consequences of the crisis on small firms, namely the lack of funding and financing sources. The
strategy-oriented studies indicate that successful firms adopt a strategy that is both market- and
entrepreneurship-oriented during a crisis.

Kuckertz et al. (2020) argue that adequate entrepreneurial responsiveness cannot be addressed by
short-term measures and needs consistent policies. This highlights the importance of considering the
temporal perspective of the crisis. (Published: 14December 2020).Crises can be highly damaging for
business as they erode trust, destroy company value, threaten business goals, exert pressure on
management by providing limited time for management to respond, and may even lead to business
failure These results build on the findings from a few previous studies of the early effects of the
coronavirus on small businesses (Wilmoth 2020).

According to Bullough & Renko (2018), who stated that entrepreneurs should engage in business
development training and seek networking events or special lectures to learn by modeling others who
have survived in Challenging time

Entrepreneurs may encounter problems in their entrepreneurial journey and these challenges are going
problematic due to the twofold responsibilities of at home, however, it is worth considering that these
women entrepreneurs fearlessly faced the risks and challenges using the available resources in their
environment and reap the compensations of their efforts (International Labor Organization, 2015).The
competitive advantage of the business cannot be fully established if strong communication is
disregarded which happens to be part of people skills (Ameen,Hameed, Bashir, Bashir, & Amin, 2015)

Local studies

On March 16, 2020, The Philippine government imposed a total lockdown in Luzon, known as the
Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), as a preventive measure to minimize the COVID-19 outbreak.
This ECQ is widely known as one of the longest lockdown in the world. Under the ECQ, all modes of
domestic travel, including ground and sea, was suspended. Residents were not allowed to leave their
homes except in case of emergencies. Border closures and entry bans were also enforced. Thousands of
police officers and military personnel were deployed at checkpoints to ensure that people complied with
the lockdown. The administration also implemented, through several platforms as preventive measures,
strict social distancing (Duddu, 2020,CSIS,2020) and educated the community on healthy lifestyles.

From the government's guidelines, some businesses have been ordered shut, and movement restricted
again in Manila and nearby provinces, accounting for a quarter of the country's population and most of
its economic activity. Cause of the Philippine economy plunged by much more than expected in the
second quarter, falling into are cession for the first time in 29 years, as economic activity was hammered
by one of the world’s longest and strictest coronavirus lockdowns that causes financial difficulties
towards to Filipino household and existential threat to the Micro business Enterprises. The enactment of
RA 9178, otherwise known as the “Barangay Micro Business Enterprises (BMBE) Act of 2002” was
carefully designed to speed up the economic development of the Philippines through boosting the
development of Barangay Micro Business Enterprises. The BMBE’s are intended to act as seedbeds of
Filipino entrepreneurs and it inspired the informal sector to participate in the mainstream economy by
streamlining government restrictions, the involvement of local government units and the expedited
awarding of benefits and incentives (Figueroa, 2018).

While a few Filipino CEOs see “no end in sight” just yet to the economic crisis brought about by the new
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, they do see huge promise in a humble establishment that can
be found on almost any street in the country: According to Asia Brewery Incorporated, 2019) one way to
ease the transition from an enhanced community quarantine to a barangay-level one would be to bring
essential goods closer to people and the best way to do that would be to fully utilize sari-sari stores in
each village. The sari-sari store is one of the smallest MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) units
we have in the economy. Because of its limited capacity, it will carry only what’s fast-moving what’s
needed in the barangay, People wouldn’t need to go to the wet market or grocery. The idea is to bring
the goods to the people, although measures implemented by the government, such as cash assistance,
relief goods distribution, and rolling markets have been a big help, the sari-sari store would still be the
most efficient business unit that could get people to minimize their movement when buying the
provisions they need.

Accordingly, Cabrera and Mauricio (2017) pointed out that entrepreneurial success in the context of
small enterprises is a satisfactory result of an attempt to engage in an entrepreneurial endeavor. Its
measurement varies from one entrepreneur to the other and their defining factors may range from
quantitative elements such as economic or financial gains or qualitative in the form of balanced life or
sense of achievement

Foreign Studies:

According to the study that refer on March 11, 2020 when the World Health Organization (World Health
Organization, 2020) declared this disease produced by the coronavirus (COVID-19) to be a pandemic. It
was first reported in Wuhan (China) on December 31, 2019. According to World Health Organization
(2009), the global public health community recognized the need for standardized research and data
collection after the 2009 flu epidemics, so the WHO Expert Working Group on Special Research and
Studies has developed several standard protocols for pandemic flu. This has led World Health
Organization (2019a,2020b).It is worth noting the contribution of Maestre (2020), President of the
Society for Latin Studies, in an article on the virus that has caused the pandemic, in which, playing with
different related terms, he explains that the neutral noun “virus” means “poison” in Latin, so most
current research is trying to find a medicine that will kill the virus.

According to Case of Ethiopia 2020; demonstrates small business and their challenges during corona
virus pandemic in developing countries, By using different empirical reviews, WHO and other
organizations reports/assessments magazines, small business experiences and other related secondary
data analyses, the researcher tried to interpret analyze and make reasonable conclusions about each
small business challenges in the current crisis time. this study finds that doing business in this COVID-19
pandemic time is very challenging and has dangerous impact on small businesses, workers life as well as
the country’s overall economy.

Understanding the challenges of reopening is essential for designing appropriate policies to help Small
enterprises in finding solutions to the issues that hamper the demand navigate this tough time. From
February to May, major challenges facing firms had shifted from the supply side to the demand side.
Lack of demand has become the most critical challenge, in particular for export firms. Thus; supporting
policies that target consumers, particularly low-income and vulnerable consumers, would indirectly
benefit Small enterprises through the channel of rising domestic demand. In response to the spread of
COVID-19, many countries have adopted lockdown policies, thereby halting production activities (Impact
of COVID-19 on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises2020).

The estimates effects of COVID-19 on the number of business owners from nationally representative
April 2020 CPS data indicate dramatic early-stage reductions in small business activity. The number of
active business owners in the United States plunged from 15.0 million to 11.7 million over the crucial
two-month window from February to April 2020. No other one-, two- or even 12-month window of time
has ever shown such a large change in business activity. For comparison, from the start to end of the
Great Recession the number of 9 business owners decreased by 730,000representing only a 5 percent
reduction. In general, business ownership is relatively steady over the business cycle (Fairlie 2013;
Parker 2018).

During difficult times, these competencies can help the entrepreneurs in winning the game and
entrepreneurial behavior is influenced by these competencies as Reuel Johnmark, Munene, and
Balunywa (2016) argued that being resourceful is one factor that influences the business owner to likely
succeed in business. In order for small business to gain a competitive edge in the industry, soft
management skills such as interpersonal abilities must be implemented. Through interpersonal skills,
achieving success is possible. This is also required as human capital is now increasingly important in all
the aspects of business activities. More so, the constant change of the necessary skills in the industry
requires an updated strategy to implement this strategy (Holmberg-Wright & Hribar, 2016).
Theoretical Framework

This study is viewed in the perspective of the Resource-Based View (RBV)theory by Werner felt (1984).
The theory asserts that tangible and intangible resources are the key for the excellent performance of
the enterprise. This theory further suggests that it is more practical to utilize internal opportunities
rather than acquiring new skills from outside opportunities. Applying RBV theory in the micro-enterprise
context, its tresses that long-term survival and existence is basically dependent on the business's unique
product offerings. Sufficient time is necessary to develop this uniqueness through nurturing the core
competency of the firm. Too often, it has been widely accepted that micro businesses are repeatedly
faced with inadequate resources and this compels them to continue doing business under financial and
capability constraints (Phillipson, Bennett, Lowe, & Raley 2004; Zucchella & Siano, 2014). In addition, the
issue on insufficient resources can force the enterprise to concentrate on short-term instead on long-
term objectives, and prevent them to explore the lucrative opportunities in their economic
environment. The covid- 19 pandemic period brought complications on the sari-sari store homeowner in
their business throughout 2021. One of the primary reasons during the pandemic period is the
inventory, income and capital in operating business that cause instability.