Small Business and the Fight to Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic

Businesses large and small are in a fight for survival as the coronavirus pandemic brings economic activity to a near complete standstill. Professor Greg Fairchild joins the Batten Institute’s Sean Carr to provide insights on what small businesses can do to survive months of lost revenues amid mounting costs and what they can do now to thrive in whatever the “new normal” for commerce might be when the immediate crisis ends.

About the Expert

Gregory B. Fairchild

Associate Dean for Washington, D.C., Area Initiatives and Academic Director of Public Policy and Entrepreneurship; Isidore Horween Research Professor of Business Administration

Fairchild is an expert in business strategy, business ethics, leadership and entrepreneurship. He specializes in underserved, overlooked markets and has taught financial literacy to victims of domestic violence, and has launched a program to teach entrepreneurship and business skills to inmates re-entering society.

Fairchild was named one of the 10 Best Business School Professors in the World by CNNMoney/Fortune in 2012 and one of the 50 Best Business School Professors by Poets & Quants. He was the lead investigator in a study of business models and public policy issues in the field of community development finance, an initiative supported by a $850,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

B.S., Virginia Commonwealth University; MBA, University of Virginia Darden School of Business; M.Phil., Ph.D., Columbia University

Professor Fairchild teaches in the Executive Education program The Women’s Leadership Program.

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About the Expert

Sean Carr

Executive Director, Batten Institute; Assistant Professor of Business Administration

Carr’s applied research, which has examined entrepreneurial dynamics, social networks, venture capital and financial crises, has resulted in award-winning books, articles, case studies, digital media and numerous teaching materials. His work has been cited by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Newsweek, NPR and CNBC.

Carr is co-author of The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market’s Perfect Storm with Darden Dean Emeritus Robert F. Bruner. He is executive chair of the Jefferson Innovation Summit, presented with CNBC to convene national leaders from business, government, academia, media and the arts for a constructive conversation about creating a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Previously, Carr worked for CNN and spent nearly 10 years as a broadcast journalist with ABC News’ World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.

B.A., Northwestern University; M.S., Columbia University; MBA, Ph.D., University of Virginia