How IT companies in Sri Lanka survive in the economic crisis and thrive through IT

Abstract

Prior to the pandemic and crisis, Sri Lanka's IT sector employed over 120,000 people and ranked fifth in terms of export revenue for the 22 million-person island nation. However, those plans are went in jeopardy as it becomes more difficult to maintain regular business operations following crisis. Therefore, this research focus on Sri Lankan IT industry and economic crisis whereas to understand the different economic challenges faced by IT companies and strategies that IT companies uses to mitigate the negative impact from the crisis. Furthermore, this study focuses on assessing the success of the identified strategies implemented by the companies and thrive during the crisis period in order to gain in-depth knowledge on their strategies The case study method used in this study is motivated by the need to understand the explored how Sri Lankan IT companies dealt with economic crisis through identifying exact economic hurdles, measures taken to mitigate the impact, and how successful they were. IT companies were selected for this study were mainly categorized on the basis of scale in terms of employees ranging from start-up to large scale. The data were gathered based on in-depth interviews and themes were generated using pattern matching and cross case synthesis. Author for this study was able to identify different themes answering the research questions. Companies were facing specific economic challenges themes namely, liquidity, financing, revenue, costs, retention, workforce, infrastructure and supply chain. In terms of coping strategies there were many leading to success. Strategies to mitigated above challenges were themes as optimisation, diversification, flexibility, automation, retention, scaling, engagement and funding. Long-term growth was reinforced by investments centred on sustainability, digital transformation, and strategic positioning. IT companies should place a high priority on staff retention, flexible business models, and financial readiness. Proactive action will increase resilience and guarantee ongoing success in changing economic circumstances.