Squaring small and medium businesses and branding post Covid-19 in Nigeria: Tripartite imperatives for performance

J Public Aff. 2021 Nov;21(4):e2586. doi: 10.1002/pa.2586. Epub 2020 Dec 9.

Abstract

Since the Corona virus is expected to create a paradigm shift of so called new normal, contemplation of imperatives needed to adapt to the post Covid-19 world is in order. In the case of Nigeria, the already troubled small and medium business (SME) sector and branding of small businesses require attention. Departing from the strict marketing perspective it is typically understood, branding is construed as a function of the overall state of a society in this article. As such, three foundational requirements, namely, technological, socio-economic, and educational imperatives, are identified as society wide policies that must be re-imagined and implemented consistently for SMEs in Nigeria to have strong basis for their branding as well as their emergence as competitive brands post Covid-19. A wide range of secondary sources such as reports, articles in the field of marketing, branding and small business branding, and contemporary global and national developments are integrated in advancing the position of this article.