The Effect of External Factors on the Sustainability of Msme Business in Medan City During Covid 19 Pandemy

The purpose of this study is to determine how the influence of external factors in the form of market access, business climate and financial limitations in Medan City on business continuity during the COVID 19 pandemic. The Indonesian economy is the economy of MSMEs because it contributes more than 60% of Indonesia's GDP, 70% of all businesses in Indonesia come from MSMEs. Quantitative descriptive research method used in this study by providing interviews and questions based on indicators on the independent and dependent variables. The MSME studied were culinary, travel and convection businesses that received credit and were not in banking financing. The result of the research is that the influence of external factors on business continuity in MSMEs, namely the business climate factor, limited market access and financial limitations, affect the business continuity of MSMEs in the Travel and Convection sector. Meanwhile, in the culinary sector, they are able to anticipate the limitations that exist due to the Covid 19 pandemic by changing their marketing strategies. Therefore the government must take policies that can support the Travel and Convection sector MSMEs to continue their business. Keywords—External factors, MSMEs, business continuity and pandemic