Economic crises, natural disasters, armed conflict and infectious disease outbreaks, amongst others, present interlinked challenges for small businesses and have generated a recent wealth of research across varied fields. Therefore, this article outlines an analytical lens suggesting how SMEs experience shocks and crises that focuses on the interlinked nature of (i) the business, (ii) the shock and (iii) the response within a given context. We thematically draw out key trends, knowledge gaps and tensions and highlight promising research and engagement avenues for future scholarship and practice. We contextualise (i) how small businesses are distinct from large firms in how they experience shock and crisis events; (ii) how different types of crises impact small business; (iii) how shocks and crises shape SME-specific responses and (iv) how the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘novel exogenous shock’ influences all of the above. We conclude by emphasising emerging knowledge avenues for future small business, shock and crisis research.

经济危机、自然灾害、武装冲突和传染病爆发等，给小企业带来了相互关联的挑战，最近在各个领域产生了大量研究成果。因此，本文概述了一个分析视角，表明中小企业如何经历冲击和危机，重点关注 (i) 业务、(ii) 冲击和 (iii) 在特定背景下的反应的相互关联性质。我们以主题为主题勾勒出关键趋势、知识差距和紧张局势，并强调未来学术和实践的有前途的研究和参与途径。我们将 (i) 小企业与大企业在如何经历冲击和危机事件方面的区别置于情境中；(ii) 不同类型的危机如何影响小企业；(iii) 冲击和危机如何影响中小企业的具体反应，以及 (iv) 作为“新型外源性冲击”的 COVID-19 大流行如何影响上述所有因素。最后，我们强调了未来小型企业、冲击和危机研究的新兴知识途径。