Innovation strategies of SMEs’ entrepreneurial leaders: evidence from Pakistan

The Covid-19 pandemic had a disastrous crisis on human health and disrupted economic and social life activities across the globe (Clark et al., 2020). Lockdown and business closure restrictions adopted by governments to curb the virus put the life of several small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at risk across the world due to supply and demand disruption. To ensure the long-term sustainability of SMEs and their economic revival, the various governments injected additional funds into these SMEs. While some SMEs leaders adopted innovative practices to keep their supply chain uninterrupted during the Covid-19. However, how Covid-19 affected the performance of SMEs and what kind of innovation strategies were adopted by nascent entrepreneurial leaders during the pandemic, are unknown empirically. In response, this research aims to address the challenges of SMEs and innovation strategies of entrepreneurial leaders during the Covid-19 in the context of Pakistan. This research contributes to growing SME literature during the Covid pandemic and offers new insights into the emerging field of entrepreneurial leadership research and practice.