Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on UK SME Business Operations

This research report investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operations of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom. The study utilizes a quantitative research method with an interpretivist philosophy and a deductive approach. Data was collected through online interviews with financial managers from various sectors, including hospitality, recruitment, and online finance. The findings reveal that the pandemic had a significant impact on the hospitality and recruitment sectors, leading to decreased revenue and staff reductions. However, online businesses experienced minimal disruption due to their digitalization and online service offerings. The report concludes that adapting technology and embracing business digitalization are crucial for SMEs to mitigate the negative effects of future pandemics.

RESEARCH REPORT
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on business operations of SME’s In
the UK

Table of contents
 Introduction
 Introduction to problem and research question
 Research methodology
 Findings
 Conclusion
 References

INTRODUCTION
 The presentation includes the introduction to the problem based on the report
to investigate the impact of pandemic on operations of SME’s along with the
research questions.
 along with the research questions.
 The different methods and approaches adapted for completion of the research
successfully.
 Evaluation of the effectiveness.
 Major findings of the investigation.

INTRODUCTION TO PROBLEM AND
RESEARCH QUESTION
 The motive is to find out the impact of COVID-19 situation on the UK’s
small business operations and performance.
 50% of the revenue of the UK relies on SME's and COVID-19 pandemic
situation affected the business of SME's.
 The life and livelihoods of the people as well as of the industries get
impacted by the pandemic situation.
 Q How the COVID-19 pandemic situation affecting the operations of
Small businesses in the UK?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH METHOD (Quantitative method)
 Gathering of current, readable and accurate data is an advantage of
Quantitative method.
 The key Drawback of the method is limited outcomes and more time-
consuming.
RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY (Interpretivism philosophy)
 High level of validity of data is one of the key advantages of interpretivism
philosophy.
 No generalisation of facts and subjective nature of data is one limitation of the
philosophy.

CONTINUE
RESEARCH APPROACH (Deductive approach)
 Efficiency and accuracy of data is an advantage of the deductive approach.
 The accuracy of the facts relies on the transparency of the system which is a
Drawback.
DATA COLLECTION METHOD (Online Interview)
 Gathering of data in a faster and cheaper way is an advantage of the online
interview method for data collection.
 The possibility of gaining subjective data is more which is a Drawback.

CONTINUE
SAMPLING METHOD (Convenience method)
 Easy accessibility to people and convenience process is one advantage of the
method.
 The generalisation of the acquired data is not possible through Convenience
method.
DATA ANALYSIS METHOD (Descriptive method)
 In-depth findings of the outcomes is an advantage of the descriptive data
analysis method.
 Time consumption and no statistical presentation of facts is a Drawback.

MAIN FINDINGS
The research is conducted with 3 financial managers of different companies and the
analysis of the outcomes is as follows-
 The hospitality sector is facing the issues of decrement in tourist due to pandemic that
affecting the profit and performance of the industry.
 The recruitment sector industries are facing the challenge of performance degradation
due to the termination of most of the staff rather than the recruitment of new staff.
 The online financial sector has no adverse impact of the pandemic on business
operations due to business digitalisation and online services.
 As per the evaluation of the findings of technology and online services adaptation is a
suggestion the companies can adapt for business operations and performance
improvisation.

CONCLUSION
 From the research, it is observed that different sector has a different
impact of COVID-19 pandemic on business operations.
 Hospitality and recruitment sector are facing adverse challenges whereas
the online businesses are less impacted by the pandemic situation.
 Adaptation of technology and business digitalisation is an option every
sector can adapt to minimising the negative impact of Pandemic.

REFERENCES
 Lemi, K., Bogale, M. and Mengesha, W., 2020. The Effect of COVID-19 on Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises’ Operation in Ethiopia. Journal of Business and
economics, pp.10-17.
 Rutberg, S. and Bouikidis, C.D., 2018. Focusing on the fundamentals: A simplistic
differentiation between qualitative and quantitative research. Nephrology Nursing
Journal, 45(2), pp.209-213.
 Apuke, O.D., 2017. Quantitative research methods: A synopsis approach. Kuwait
Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 33(5471), pp.1-8.
 Kumar, M. and Harris, I., 2020. Enterprise-wide diagnostic in the UK SME: focus
beyond tools and techniques. Production Planning & Control, pp.1-17.