"BUSN20016 RESEARCH PROPOSAL PROBLEM STATEMENTRecession is a phenomenon of decreasing demand for raw materials, products and services andits beginning, progress and ending depends on the operational measures used by differentresearchers and federal agencies (Shama, 1993). It leads to a drop in share market, an increasein unemployment, stagnant wages, a fall in retail sales and a decline in the housing market(Amadeo, 2015). If a recession lasts longer, it can be classified as economic depression. Therewere worldwide recessions during the years 2007 – 2009 (“The Great Recession”). Largebusiness companies were a bit resilient during this time with government subsidy and grantsbut, smaller companies which contribute more to the overall employment growth were badlyaffected (Nanto, 2009). Smaller businesses suffered huge net employment losses due to sharper cuts in the rate of grossjob gains which in turn reflected on slower business creation and a lower rate of hiring amongexpanding small businesses (Laderman, 2013). Between 2007 and 2012, small businessesexperienced disproportionate job losses wherein their overall job losses was double their 30%share of total employment. Also, jobs at small businesses declined about 11% and the payrollsat businesses that had 50 or more employees declined further by 7% (Laderman, 2013). SME’ssuffered disproportionately during such economic downturns because of their limitedfinancial resources, their relative shortcomings in technological, managerial and humancapabilities and their greater dependence on fewer customers and suppliers which readilyreduced their capacity to overcome the economic crisis (Bourletidis & Triantafyllopoulos,2014). In such a scenario, it becomes imperative to analyse and understand what went wrong forthese SME’s and this study will fill that gap with empirical evidence of the losses/impactssuffered by the small firms during the period of recession. Also, the marketing strategies,innovative tactics and new concepts adopted by them in order to survive the Recession willbe researched upon. This is done so that the future SME’s can take preventive measures andbe proactive if at all Recession occurs in the future.3 | P a g e BUSN20016 RESEARCH PROPOSAL RESEARCH OBJECTIVES/QUESTIONSThe overall aim of this project is to investigate the Recession-related effects on small firms,their responses to tackle that (i.e. their strategies) and the resulting impact on the performanceof the firm. More specifically, this study aims to answer the following research questions:? RQ1: How did recession affect the SMEs?? RQ2: What were the impacts suffered by SMEs as a result of Recession?? RQ3: How did the SMEs respond to the Recession conditions?? RQ4: What are the factors that drive the SMEs performance under Recessionconditions?These questions will help answer the most important aim of this project: providing the bestoptions/schemes that any SME can follow in order to survive economic downturns. 4 | P a g e BUSN20016 RESEARCH PROPOSAL JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECTRecession has been a period of intensive soul searching in which longstanding business modelshad come under scrutiny (Sharma, et al., 2011). Also, the fact that Recession had affected theworld’s economy including a majority of countries like USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia,China, New Zealand and India is a serious case to consider. The world’s greatest bankssuffered losses and unemployment rates were at an all-time high during the period of 2007- 2009 and countries like Greece and Iceland declared bankruptcy (Sharma, et al., 2011). Thisproposal will be undertaken with the help of extensive literature review and feedback fromSME managers and owners (through surveys and questionnaires). Their feedback will providespecifics on the strategies they adopted to stay afloat during Recession which will be quiteutilitarian for all the SME’s in the world. Under these circumstances, the following are the benefits of conducting this researchproposal: ? It will help those who wish to understand how Recession influences SME’s activitiesand performance. Also, they must also take into account the mechanisms throughwhich Recession conditions exert an influence. ? This research proposal will also help broaden the understanding of how Recessionconditions shape a SME’s business activity and performance. ? SME managers can make use of the strategies presented in this research to fightRecession where in this research proposal will help them to identify the right focusareas during and post-recession. But, there is no guarantee of a single ‘best method’that can ensure a SME’s survival under economic downturns. ? The results obtained from this research proposal will be of use to business owners,researchers and policy makers. ? This proposal will be extremely useful to new ventures/start-ups as they canunderstand the causes, effects and impacts of Recession. This, in turn will help them bebetter prepared and pro-active in case Recession occurs in the future. 5 | P a g e "