Marketing Innovation During a Crisis : A case study on the responses of Swedish SMEs to the COVID-19 pandemic

Sammanfattning: Background: The economic crisis derived from the COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on the global economy and Swedish small and medium-sized enterprises are challenged to adapt their practices to the new consumer buying behaviour. As a response to economic crises, where consumer buying behaviour changes, companies are forced to innovate their marketing methods.  Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how Swedish SMEs manage the economic crisis derived from the COVID-19 pandemic through the relatively unexplored relationship between crisis management and marketing innovation.  Method: This research is an exploratory qualitative study focusing on Swedish small and medium-sized enterprises where semi-structured interviews were held with seven participants who were marketing responsible. A thematic analysis was applied to analyse the empirical data.  Conclusion: The empirical findings and the analysis suggest three main areas when answering the research question. 1) Marketing innovation improved the crisis management practice among the interviewed enterprises. 2) Marketing innovation is a common crisis management tool among the respondents of this study, and one reason why is because of the high capacity to innovate of the interviewees. 3) A new type of crisis management is arising because of the technological advancements and business climate.