This paper is one of the pioneering studies to specifically link COVID-19 pandemic with business failures in
African B2B firms and the role of leadership and impression management in mitigating business failures. Based
on the qualitative data from Ghana and Nigeria, our findings show that although B2B firms in emerging markets
are agile and proactive, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered the process of business decline leading to failure in
some cases. Particularly, the lack of technological know-how and the absence of online business activities made it
difficult for B2B firms to continue operations. Further, we found that case B2B African firms needed a balance of
market and non-market strategies to avoid failure caused by the pandemic. Study findings also indicate that
despite the challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic presented opportunities to B2B firms in emerging markets.
Flexible working and employee management are found to be instrumental in avoiding business failure. Finally,
our findings show that, despite the absence of institutional support in African emerging markets, several case B2B
firms quickly adopted digital technologies to communicate with partners and manage online business operations.