Empirical evidence overtime shows that micro and small enterprises are more susceptible to changes in their external environment due to their smallness and other peculiarities associated with them such as inadequate skill sets/manpower, lack of financial capacity, short-term orientation and necessity-entrepreneurial approach to business activities. In order to answer the question of how some MSEs survive the harsh economic environment in some developing African economies, we conducted a brief review of the literature to increase our understanding their approach to surviving difficult times. This article presents a brief review of the literature using the Sarasvathy's Theory of Effectuation to create an understanding of the survival strategies of micro and small -scale enterprises (MSEs) during turbulent times. The article recommends that managers of MSEs are required to develop a problem-solving intuition that helps to either avoid, be passive or active towards business challenges. Moreover, the aid of strategic alliances and industrial clusters, can also be very beneficial in surviving environmental turbulence and uncertainties.