Ways to Minimize Impact of COVID-19 on Business Recovery: A Case Study on ASDA

Recommended Research Proposal Structure
Section One: Executive Summary
Topic: “To analyze ways to minimize impact of COVID-19 in terms of business recovery”. A case
study on ASDA.
COVID-19 pandemic caused ample of difficulties for business organizations in terms of running the
entity smoothly. It hampered daily operations and functions along with productivity of company. In
context of present study, the selected company is ASDA that is a well-known supermarket chain based
on UK. The report aims to analyze different ways in order to minimize the impact of COVID-19
pandemic. Further, it will cover suitable strategies for ASDA in order to deal with adverse impact of
COVID-19 pandemic.
Section Two: Title, objective, responsibilities
Introduction
COVID-19 pandemic
hampered daily operations and functions along with productivity of company. In addition to
this, the pandemic also reduced down the overall efficiency & effectiveness of business organization
that will also create direct impact over customer satisfaction. In terms of financial difficulties,
pandemic minimized the overall revenue and profit margin of the companies significantly. It also
created huge uncertainties across the business organizations by affecting their existing human resource
practices as well. In context of present study, the selected company is ASDA that is a well-known
supermarket chain based on UK. They offer groceries along with general items such as mobile,
accessories, appliances, clothes and more. The report aimed to analyze different ways in order to
minimize the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Further, it will cover suitable strategies for ASDA in
order to deal with adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
Research Aim:
“To analyze ways to minimize COVID-19 in terms of business recovery”. A case study on ASDA.
Research Objectives

 To understand the impact of COVID-19 in business context within UK.
 To analyze the challenges faced by ASDA due to the impact of pandemic.
 To develop recovery strategies for ASDA to deal with adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
Research Questions:
 What is the impact of COVID-19 in business context within UK?
 What are the challenges faced by ASDA due to the impact of pandemic?
 What are the recovery strategies for ASDA to deal with adverse impact of COVID-19
pandemic?
Section Three: Reasons for choosing this research project
The main aim of present study is to analyze the impact of pandemic over business organizations so that
suitable business recovery plans can be structured in order to deal with the adverse impacts profoundly.
Here, report is significant in terms of improving knowledge base of investigator to contribute in
structuring suitable recover plans to minimize the adverse impact of pandemic in across business. In
addition to this, the current project is also helpful in personal and professional context. In personal
context, it will help in developing different skills & competencies such as communication, presentation,
data research and more. On other side, the report will also prove useful in professional development
and growth to gain tremendous success in the future career.
Section Four: Literature sources searched
Impact of COVID-19 in business context within UK
According to Hopson, (2022), it is analyzed that COVID-19 pandemic created huge impact on
business organizations. At the end of December 2021, nearly 3% of the total workforce was on sick
leave in terms of self-isolation, quarantine and more. Also, nearly 21% of the business organizations
reported cancellation from customers. In addition to this, the business organizations have also
implemented necessary safety measures that lead towards increment in the overall operational cost in
significant manner. Past two years remain really challenging for the business organizations working
within UK. In terms of lockdown, surging inflations, shortage of labor and uncertainties regarding
future sales creates ample of obstacles. During Q2 of 2020, majority of the business organizations

recorded nearly 30% decrease in their overall sales when the UK was first country to have lock-down.
There were large fall on employment at the time of global pandemic. Business entities are likely to fire
ample of workers as they were not able to pay salaries and other such expenses. Furthermore, COVID-
19 pandemic caused great uncertainties across the business environment of UK as they cannot predict
their future sales and profit. Also, sales uncertainties were high during 2020. During 2021, inflation
also picked up significantly as business entities are likely to charge higher prices of products from
customers (Two years on, how has the pandemic affected businesses in the UK?, 2022).
Challenges faced by ASDA due to the impact of pandemic
According to Yeh, (2021), during the COVID-19 pandemic, ample of challenges have been
faced by the business entities working across UK. . It hampered daily operations and functions along
with productivity of company. In addition to this, the pandemic also reduced down the overall
efficiency & effectiveness of business organization that will also create direct impact over customer
satisfaction. It also created huge uncertainties across the business organizations by affecting their
existing human resource practices as well. In terms of financial difficulties, pandemic minimized the
overall revenue and profit margin of the companies significantly (Yost, Kizildag and Ridderstaat,
2021). In context of ASDA, they cancelled order with suppliers as the situation was completely
uncertain. They were unable to predict future actions of buyers. Nearly 90% of buyers of the respective
entity faced fear of economic recession (British retailer Asda's customers fear economic depression,
2020). In addition to this, the organization also started to follow suitable measures in order to ensure
safety and security of visitors profoundly which lead towards increment in their overall operational cost
that will also affect future sales and profit margin. Additionally, the pandemic caused uncertainty to the
business entity as they were unable to predict the future actions of buyers in such unpredictable
situation. Therefore, ASDA faced numerous challenges due to adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
Recovery strategies for ASDA to deal with adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic
According to Rose, (2021), there are ample of recover strategies that can be followed by the
companies so that they can further deal with the impact of pandemic. It is monitored that pandemic
caused great difficulties for the entities in terms of affecting their overall sales, profitability, revenue
and more. In order to recover from the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic, there is requirement to
follow all the necessary guidelines prepared by the higher authorities for security and safety of general

public. When organizations are likely to follow necessary hygiene and cleanliness measures, it is easy
to make people understand that they are at safe place. It will help in terms of getting the customer back
to store to recover the losses. In terms of another strategy, the business organizations need to have
suitable plans so that they can effectively deal with future uncertainties (Rosenbloom and Markard,
2020). In case of ASDA, they need to have appropriate plans to deal with future uncertainties
profoundly. Also, they are required to train their employees in order to contribute to deal with adverse
impact of COVID-19 pandemic. In the present era, majority of the companies are likely to follow
online practices so that they can easily fulfill the needs & requirements of buyers. After witnessing the
drastic impact of pandemic, there is suggestion to implement necessary online and advance practices to
get and fulfill demands of customers in timely manner. Here, online deliver is useful in minimizing the
personal touch. Also, individuals are likely to prefer online shopping post COVID-19 as they are still in
panic of deadly virus. Following such recovery strategies will help the respective entity in dealing with
impact of COVID-19 pandemic significantly.
Section Five: Research approach and methodologies
In research methodology, data is collected, analyzed and further measures so that appropriate
results can be drawn. The main aim of research methodology is to gain authentic results out of the
research project to gain pre-defined project outcomes in an efficient manner (Daniel, Kumar and Omar,
2018). In research methodology, various elements are covered which are mentioned as below:
Research Philosophy: This tends to develop broad knowledge regarding the topic. It is based
on the assumptions of researcher regarding the selected topic. In addition to this, research philosophy is
imperative in order to make assumptions regarding particular topic. In this regard, there are two major
philosophies followed by investigator like interpretivism and positivism (Davidavičienė, 2018). In
present case, the selected philosophy is positivism wherein information will evaluate in objective
manner using different numerical facts and figures significantly.
Research Approaches: This is the other major imperative element of research methodology
that is useful in terms of guiding researcher to get appropriate project outcomes successfully. There are
two major approaches are used by investigators like deductive and inductive (Humphries, 2017). In
context of current project, suitable approach is deductive wherein researcher can easily evaluate the