Influence of crisis-management and pre-crisis planning on the leadership and internal organizational communication in times of crisis in German SMEs

Considering the current COVID-19 pandemic and that most of the businesses face crisis, but much press attention focuses on the crisis facing big organizations. Every country in the world relies heavily on the SMEs (small and medium-sized companies) sector for employment and economic development (especially in Germany, where SMEs constitute 99.6% of all enterprises). Sadly, the scholarly literature about crisis management and the influence of pre-crisis preparation on crisis management and leadership in SMEs is not very impressive. The author attempted to understand and interpret a reality reflection in the social reality of crisis actors. The capacity of company owners/managers to think strategically in the middle of a crisis is critical to the long-term sustainability of a firm. This qualitative research paper is trying to clarify whether the pre-crisis planning in SMEs is a good decision or not for SMEs owners and/or managers in order to be more resilient, and to see its impact in the leadership and internal organization communication in times of crisis.