The Impact of COVID-19 on Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) - A Case Study of Rowlinson Knitwear

Dissertation

Contents
TOPIC: COVID 1Pandemic’s impacts on SMEs (Small and Medium sized enterprises)..............3
Chapter 1- INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................3
Research aim:...............................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives.....................................................................................................................3
Research Questions:.....................................................................................................................3
Rationale for the research............................................................................................................4
Problem definition.......................................................................................................................4
Project outline..............................................................................................................................4
Chapter 2- Literature review............................................................................................................5
Consequences of COVID Crisis on the performance and productivity on Rowlinson Knitwear6
Challenges and problems faced by Rowlinson Knitwear due to COVID-19..............................8
Strategies that Rowlinson Knitwear adopted to tackle with the challenges of COVID crisis.....9
Chapter 3- Research Methods........................................................................................................12
Chapter 4- Research findings and discussion................................................................................14
Chapter 5- Conclusion and Recommendations..............................................................................21
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
Recommendations......................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................23

TOPIC: COVID 1Pandemic’s impacts on SMEs (Small and Medium sized
enterprises)
Chapter 1- INTRODUCTION
COVID-19 pandemic has affected and still affecting world’s economy and brings a major
distraction in the economic as well as social systems globally. In addition to this, it has highly
impact on the small and medium enterprise as they are not able to function properly and maintain
its performance level. There are various issues faced by SMEs due to global pandemic that
further leads in declining of performance level and shut down of businesses also. (Kang, Diao
and Zanini, 2020) For the present report, Rowlinson knitwear is taken into consideration. It is a
SMEs that produces school wear and knitwear for school students. The company was
incorporated in year 1972 and is headquartered in UK. The main objective of the report is to
examine the consequences of the impact of COVID pandemic on the effectiveness and efficiency
of small and medium size enterprises.
Research aim:
“To examine the consequences of COVID pandemic on the effectiveness, efficiency and
productivity of Medium and small size entities. A study on Rowlinson Knitwear
Research Objectives
 To examine the consequences of COVID-19 on the effectiveness, efficiency and
productivity on Rowlinson Knitwear.
 To analyse the challenges faced by Rowlinson Knitwear due to COVID pandemic.
 To understand the approaches opted by Rowlinson Knitwear to handle the situation of
COVID pandemic.
Research Questions:
 What consequences do COVID pandemic has on the effectiveness, efficiency and
productivity on Rowlinson Knitwear?
 What challenges were faced by Rowlinson Knitwear due to COVID pandemic?
 What strategies do Rowlinson Knitwear opted to handle the challenges of COVID
pandemic?

Rationale for the research
The main reason for conducting the given research is to examine the impacts of COVID-19
global pandemic on the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of SMEs. In addition to this,
the present study will help researcher to analyse the issues faced by SMEs and the strategies
adopted by them in order to deal with situation of COVID-19. This research will help various
stakeholders that are organisation, researcher and students as well. In the context of the
organization, it helps to determine the impacts of the global epidemic on its performance and
productivity because they are able to develop effective strategies and maintain their efficiency.
For the researcher, it is helpful to learn and improve skills such as communication, time
management, data collection, data analysis and much more. In addition, it will also help the
researcher to conduct future studies in a systematic and timely manner.
In previous studies, there are discussions about the issues faced by company due to
COVID-19. Along with this, it also include data regarding how SMEs focus on maintaining its
performance and productivity but it lacks data regarding the consequences of COVID global
pandemic on capability and performance of an organisation. In order to fulfil this gap, some
research questions were developed which is discussed in the form of literature review.
Problem definition
COVID-19 has brought a drastic change in the livelihood and on the economy as well.
Along with this, it has highly impacted the functioning of SMEs as they face various issues
decline in performance, lack of technology, less labour, disruption in supply chain and many
more. Along with this, many of the SMEs have shut down its functioning as they are disabled to
function adequately and are unable to bear the expenses as well. For this issue, the respective
study is conducted that aids to identify impact of COVID crisis on the productivity of respective
organisation which further help to develop strategies and ensure growth as well.
Project outline
Chapter 1- Introduction: It is the first and important chapter of a study as it includes the
research aim, objectives and questions. In addition to this, it also includes information about
reason to conduct study along with the significance to conduct the study. Moreover, this section
also includes the problem statement associated to the present study and the reason to conduct the
study properly.

Chapter 2- Literature review: Another chapter is literature that includes secondary information
collected by researcher on the specific topic. This chapter help to identify the research gap and
fulfil it by developing research questions.
Chapter 3- Research Methods: It is among the crucial aspects of investigative research as it
helps to identify the tools and techniques applied to gather information about the present study.
Moreover, it is important to researcher for making use of appropriate research methodologies for
drawing effective, concrete and valid conclusions. The present study is based on secondary
research method and exploratory research method along with positivist research philosophy will
be chosen by researcher. In addition to this, secondary quantitative as a research choice method
and case study as a research strategy will be used by investigator as it helps to gain higher insight
about aspects, topics & also help to represent the findings with charts and graphs. Moreover,
thematic analysis as a data analysis method will be applied as it help to develop themes on the
basis of research questions and ensure high validity of data. All this methods assist researcher to
conduct future studies in more effective and systematic manner so that objectives are attained on
time period.
Chapter 4- Results/ Findings: This chapter consist of the overall findings and results analysed
while collecting the information and conducting the study. In addition to this, it includes findings
in the form of charts, graphs which is easy to interpret and to develop positive outcome.
Chapter 5- Discussion and Conclusion: It is the last chapter that includes the main information
that is the overall understanding of the topic in the form of conclusion. In addition to this, it
consists of the overall evaluation of gathered information in a precise manner. Moreover, this
chapter includes the results in a concise way which shows whether the objectives are attained or
not. Furthermore, it includes some suggestions to the chosen organisation for dealing with the
situation of COVID-19 which impact on its performance and productivity.
Chapter 2- Literature review
Literary reviews are defined as academic texts that reflect the understanding and knowledge
of academic texts on a particular topic. Also, it is basically the critical evaluation of materials on
the particular topic with the objective to gain in-depth understanding about topic. Literature
review is secondary information which is gathered by different sources which includes books,
Journals, published materials, online ratings and many more. One of the main objectives of
literature review is to analyse research gaps from the previous conducted studies. In the previous

studies, there is a discussion about how global pandemic impact on small and medium
enterprises. In addition to this, it also include data including the problems tackled by SMEs
because of COVID crisis but it lacks information about influence of COVID crisis on the
performance and productivity of SMEs and the strategies they adopt to deal with these issues. In
order to fulfil this research gap, some of the research questions were developed which are as
follows:
Consequences of COVID Crisis on the performance and productivity on Rowlinson Knitwear
As per the view point of Janathan and et. al., (2021) the outbreak of global pandemic has
highly affected the small and medium enterprises and the wholesome business productivity in
various locations. COVID-19 has a huge influence on the consistent operations of SMEs which
are fragmented at maximum levels. It is analysed that instead of making regulations and policies
for the growth of economy, there is complex issue which is raised because of pandemic situation.
It is determined that small entities and medium size entities are among the most significant
aspect which contribute towards economic growth and also supports in improving GDP of many
countries. It helps to create employment and increases trade opportunities with the help of
offerings, innovation and aiding business actions. This, many of the countries are always
conscious about the productivity and performance of SMEs as it support and facilitate them to
increase business performance with the objective to maintain positive results. It is argued that the
present performance of SMEs has been adversely impacted because of global pandemic
situation. It is determined that it has developed global recession risk which has resulted in
reducing growth of international monetary fund. In addition to this, it is analysed that global
pandemic has also impact on each sector and has developed a declined rate of return as undertake
the performance of small entities (Small and Medium Enterprises in the Pandemic, 2020). It is
analysed that there is adverse impact of COVID pandemic on the small organisation as they are
not able to function out their activities properly and not even able to bear the expenses which
results into shut down of many small and medium businesses. Due to Lockdown, SMEs are not
able to function properly as they did not get any proper resources to function out and they did not
have enough funds to function out their work digitally which help many companies to deal with
situation of global crisis and maintain its performance level.
According to Dirga and et. al., (2021) it is analysed that small and medium businesses has
been hit adversely and hardest because of COVID pandemic. One of the impact is on business