Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze the performances of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the aftermath of the recent global crisis and the new problems associated to a weak banking system. SMEs from emerging economies have experienced critical situations both in the global crisis (2008-2010), but also in the context of the European sovereign - debt crisis (2010-2012), both characterized by multiple shocks for all type of businesses. In the case of SMEs the interest is to understand the mechanisms that influence the robustness and the resilience in turbulent periods but also the way of thinking the architecture of future investment strategies in order to realize an optimal development in the wake of crises. In addition, we should mention the impact of these turbulences on the psychology of owners/ investors with a new attitude/ preference for another set of businesses, characterized by lower risk. In this case it has become essential to observe a set of basic values such as profit margin per sold item and the market share. It is essential to maintain the market share in critical and turbulent period, because it is registered a decreasing demand for products and services and, at the same time, a fluctuation of prices. In the literature it is proved that investment strategies should consider a lot of critical technical, but also non-technical elements like the impact of the retail price on the supply in the context of the dynamics of the market, the quality and the specific features of the product in the context of the technological progress, financing solutions adapted to the product/ market. The external environment after crisis is essentially changed and the way of thinking strategies is also different. To better understand this new paradigm, very important for the strategy of SMEs, a simple but efficient quantitative methodology for understanding the dynamics of investments in turbulent periods is also presented.

Key words: small and medium enterprises (SMEs), investment strategy, performances and dynamics of firm, global crisis, critical and turbulent period.