Innovation and e-commerce as resilience strategies? Firm-level evidence in Sub-Saharan Africa during COVID-19 crisis

This research evaluates the effectiveness of innovation and e-commerce as corporate strategies for resilience during the COVID-19 crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using World Bank data from 2,405 firms in 7 sub-Saharan African countries, and employing an ordered probit model, we show that innovation and e-commerce have differentiated effects on firm resilience. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, the innovation strategy is much more effective than e-commerce in permitting firms to restore their pre-crisis performance levels. These findings in SSA hide disparities according to firm size and industry. This study is crucial for sub-Saharan African economies to recover from such a crisis and provide a foundation for future resilience.