Between uncertainty and opportunity: Companies in times of Covid-19 in Veracruz and Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract
Purpose: To identify organizational and technological reactions of companies in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Veracruz with regards to the COVID-19 crisis. 
Methodological design: This is a quantitative and cross-sectional study. The information was collected in two phases: May and September, 2020. The survey was answered by 154 companies in the first phase and 178 in the second. The instruments were designed to collect information on the impact the pandemic had on companies’ operation: the measures adopted to survive the crisis, the government "support" they received, and the conditions for a possible return to the "new normal." The sample of 154 and 178 companies has statistical validity with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 7.88% and 6%, in phase 1 and 2, respectively. 
Results: At the beginning of the pandemic, only a third of the companies from Veracruz, Boca del Río and Tuxtepec registered major affectations, unlike the border cities of the northern states of Mexico. 
Research limitations: Despite the design of an extensive promotion campaign, high rates of rejection could have affected the representativeness of the study. 
Findings: The results show that uncertainty resulting from the pandemic has generated new business opportunities for those companies capable of combining the internal adjustment of their costs and the search of new business models with greater use of digital technologies and higher inventory margins. 