MG3119 - Impacts of COVID-19 on SMEs: A Study on Rowlinson Knitwear

This report examines the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), with a specific focus on Rowlinson Knitwear, a UK-based school wear and knitwear manufacturer. The study aims to analyze the challenges faced by Rowlinson Knitwear due to the pandemic and the strategies they adopted to mitigate the negative impacts on their effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. The research employs a literature review to identify research gaps, followed by secondary research methods and exploratory research. The findings and discussions delve into the impact of the pandemic on the company's performance, business continuity, and revenue levels. The report concludes with recommendations for Rowlinson Knitwear and other SMEs to navigate similar crises and maintain their performance and productivity in challenging times. It addresses the research questions regarding the consequences, challenges, and strategies related to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on SMEs.

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

continuity as it is analysed that 50% of small companies has shut down its operations and is
closed down its business activities whereas the 30% has remain closed temporarily because of
high number of cases of employee COVID-19 infection, reduction in orders, disruption in supply
chain and many more. All these has directly impact on the performance and lower down the
revenue level which is still not cover up by small companies. In order to deal with this, many of
the small companies adopt new technologies and bring innovation and many of them shift their
functions and offerings digitally so that they can manage their expenses an maintain their
performance even in the situation of COVID-19 (The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on
performance of small enterprises, 2021). It is determined that many of small businesses are not
able to fulfil the demand of customers because of disruption in supply chain. This decline the
overall customer base level and sales of company that has negative affect on performances of
small and medium enterprises. Furthermore, it is analysed that around 75% of small businesses
has experiencing decline in the revenue level and some gas faced reduction in revenue very high.
It is stated that one-third of SMEs losing approx half of their revenue which is not expected to
improve in the coming time period. There is also decline in demand for orders as companies is
facing 50% decline in customer orders. It is analysed that companies were not able to shift
towards digitally due to which their number of orders expected is decline and affect negatively
on its performance level.
SMEs plays a very significant role in this world of business and the impact of COVID-19
has changed the scenario of small medium enterprises. The pandemic situation has almost shut
down every kind of businesses due to which they can't earn revenue on large scale. There are
number of people who lost their jobs due to this critical situation and also there were some
families who don't have money to run their daily life who are working in these enterprises. Due
to this pandemic situation, the contribution of small medium enterprises within the country's
GDP has reduced up to a very large extent. Due to this difficult situation, small medium
enterprises have lost their main contacts through which they get maximum orders on large scale.
It has been observed that SMEs has to bear the cost of operational level and there are some
businesses who have to pay the rent for office establishment. The most challenging thing is that
due to sudden shut down of businesses they have to bear cost of that parameter as well which
were almost in the form of finished product and they can't sell them on the immediate basis as
well. So these are the impact of COVID-19 on small medium enterprises.

Challenges and problems faced by Rowlinson Knitwear due to COVID-19
As per the viewpoint of William, (2020), there are various problems and challenges that
small organisations like Rowlinson Knitwear faced at the time of COVID-19. Since the month of
march, the organisation had to face various issues due to pandemic and every organisation was
struggling in order to survive in the market. Many local businesses had to shut their doors and
had to implement new COVID-19 protocols and social distancing methods and had to adapt
work from home. There were various challenges which the organisation had to face which
involved money management which is considered to be the biggest and most common problem
for any small business organisation. In context to organisation, it is very important to have
enough cash flows for the objective to pay the bills. It had become a reason to worry for the
managers and owners of the organisation to determine the future and present needs of the
organisation. Due to pandemic situation, various organisations had to reduce the employee
number with changing working hours of the company, furloughs and lay-offs. These changes in
the organisation had a immediate influence on the operations of the organisation (The Top Five
Challenges small Businesses face during the COVID-19 Period, 2020).
Another major challenge for the organisation was to establish a work from home policy. US
and various other countries had implemented the work from home strategy. In context to
organisations, it was difficult for the managers and leaders to establish a balance among the work
priorities as few employees were in the office and few were working from their homes and also
had to deal with various personal obligations that involves elderly, children etc. For
organisations it become difficult to establish priorities and boundaries among the personal and
business obligations. Government regulation and assistance remains as a large challenge for the
organisations. Another challenge involved going digital. Going digital is considered to be the
new trend for various organisations and the best and the effective way to attract larger number
of audience. For an organisation, it requires funds and time for the purpose to build up a wider
audience. In context to organisation, shifting to a online store or e-commerce is considered to be
another important aspect for the purpose to promote and advertise their products and using social
media for the purpose to extend and develop a new customer base. For a small organisation, it is
very important to have a social medi a presence which requires a lot of planning and knowledge.
For a small business organisation it is very important to address the issues and challenge in order
to perform its business operations. An organisation had to carry out various measures for the

purpose to implement the rules and regulation implemented by the government and also working
on business operations in order to successfully run the business. For organisations, it is very
important to address a lot of firm's goals and having a deep understanding about the client
dependence and expanding towards other areas and also remaining loyal to the customers.
As per the view point of (2021) COVID-19 pandemic disturbs both large organisations
and SMEs at global level due to partial or complete lockdown which is necessary to reduce the
impact of virus. There are various challenges which are faced by SMEs are discussed below in
detail: -
Cash Flow: -This subject is faced by large SMEs in all over the world as they are highly
dependent on regular cash flow and stable funding chain. Due to lockdown and insufficient cash
flow SMEs unable to survive in the market so they shut down their business activities. The
company is unable to pay salaries to its workers. Guidelines given by WHO it required
adaptation to the office such as introducing sanitisers stations, customers facing points etc. in
which small organisations fails to do so.
Technology:-It is difficult for SMEs to do investment in new technology and uphold work
from home to its employees. It need continuous training and development programme which is a
costly method and difficult to adopt in pandemic. In developing countries it is quite difficult to
follow latest technology and provide work from home to employees with proper training. Many
people are working from remote areas and it is challenging to provide connections and
technology in developing countries.
People: Small organisation faces various challenges in respect of people working within an
organisation. Due to insufficient cash flow in small company it reduces its employees and it has
its impact on customers also. In complete and partial lockdown customers afraid to get out of the
house and prefer to shop online which is an expensive method for small organisation. This
impacts various SMEs to shut down or reduces it profitability.
Strategies that Rowlinson Knitwear adopted to tackle with the challenges of COVID crisis
As per the view of Dimson and Sharma(2021), covid-19 has caused serious implications on
many small-scale enterprises and resulted in their permanent shutdown. It affected many small-
scale entrepreneurs which made them question their existence and has instigated them to come
up with effective strategies if they wish to survive in market. The critical trading restrictions
impacted operations of small-scale and medium-sized enterprises which forced many businesses

to wind up their entities. Moreover, those companies who have managed to survive are obliged
to come up with constructive strategies and tactics in order to imply further growth and
development (Dimson and Sharma,2021).
 The small-scale organisation and medium-sized enterprises adopted digital technologies
and modern management in order to reassure their sustenance. These small-scale
entrepreneurs developed new and emerging innovative practices in their operations such
as innovation in product or services as well as adopting new marketing mix or
administrative approaches.
 The small-scale and medium-sized enterprises were expecting external support from
government and other institutions to help them recover from financial crisis imposed by
the impending pandemic. These enterprises seeks support and help from governments,
lawyers and various agencies in order to build their capacities to provide consumers with
relevant products and services. The small-scale enterprises expected government to help
them in duration of crisis as they majorly contributes in generating employment
opportunities and thus generating and enhancing potential worldwide.
 The small-scale enterprises and medium-sized firms have started cutting costs as to
assure their survival in market amid tough situations of the pandemic. They paid attention
on discovering ways in which other than obvious or unnecessary costs could be reduced
like office space or business travel.
 Developing online market place is one of the major and effective strategy which is
adopted by many small-scale and medium-sized enterprises that helped them to maintain
their existence post covid period. Online shopping is considered as a convenient and
preferred method of availing goods and services through many individuals. Operating
functions online were seemed like only option amidst critical consequences of corona
virus in order to save firms from discontinuation of operations.
 Another effective strategy adopted by SMEs includes responding and aligning with
demands in logistics. The worldwide emergence of innovations and growth of e-
commerce has made it pretty easier to develop online marketplace but for distribution
purpose products are to be shipped and delivered using various modes of transportation.
The growing significance of e-commerce has creating demands and high expectations of
constructive development of logistics department. Small-scale enterprises and medium-

sized firms are emphasising more upon proper functioning of logistics department so that
they can manage their sustenance through online platforms. SMEs have suffered more than large ones due to limited availability of resources due to
which they are rethinking the establishment of their brand image. The firms are relying
on making changes in their business models or change in range or products or expansion
in current dealings. Rebranding is emerging as a significant and effective strategy among
SMEs to grow their businesses and ensure their survival post covid period.
As per the view point of Hyen (2021), there are various strategies used by SMEs to deal with
COVID-19 situations which are discussed in detail as given below:
Online Sell of Products – During COVID-19 many small organisation uses online websites to
sell its products and services to survive and earn profit in the market. It make it easier for
customer to shop online through mobile, laptops etc. so that they can fulfil needs and wants. The
increase in e-commerce websites results in huge need for quick and trusted logistics hence small
companies felt pressure to quickly adjust to demand to ensure their survival in pandemic. Many
few people leave their homes to buy goods and services as people habits are now changed.
Work From Home – In order to decrease the spread of COVID-19 many companies give
their employees work from home facilities. It has modifies the way it work, which result in
greater dependency on technology. It made in development and innovation in various sectors as
introduction of new technology which help both the companies and its employees towards work.
Its saves the time to travel from home to office as it can start work from home which is cost
effective method.
Changing the business model: To cope up with unexpected crises many organisations adapt
to be creative, respond quickly, adopt new technology to maintain competitive advantages when
it faced uncertainty and difficult problems.
Summary of literature review
From the above literature review, it has been concluded that COVID-19 has affected
adversely on the overall performance and productivity of small and medium enterprises. In
addition to this, it is analysed that there are many issues faced by SMEs because of COVID-19 as
many of the small business has shut down as they are not able to bear the expenses. Moreover,
the issues faced are decline in performance level, low sales, disruption in supply chain and so on.
It is determined that many of the small companies has shift their business digitally which is one

of the effective strategy to maintain customer base level and performance also. Furthermore, they
are more focused towards fulfilling customer requirements so that they can retain customers in
an effective manner.
Chapter 3- Research Methods
The research methodology is one of the most important and fundamental part of research as
it helps to collect and analyze data using appropriate and accurate methods as well as techniques.
In addition, it presents as a systematic study that describes the research problem, develops a
research question, collects and analyzes information and much more. For this current study, a
second study was conducted as it would assist in collecting detailed and in-depth data on the
impact of COVID-19 on small and medium enterprises. In addition, the research approach
incorporates all the tools and techniques used by the researcher to conduct current research and
develop effective results. The methods used in the current study are provided below:
Research philosophy: It is elaborated as the composition of beliefs which assist
investigator to gather, use and interpret data in a proper systematic way. In addition to this, it is
basically studied in the form of ontology and epistemology. Epistemology is a type of research
study which utilises to the correct data needed to conduct the study along with how an individual
can obtain it. On the other side, ontology is a form of philosophy which introduces to the
collecting valid and authentic data. The research philosophy is further divided into two types that
is interpretivism and positivism. Interpretivism philosophy states that a person observes their
own perception and understanding of actuality whereas positivism philosophy states that
information is independent of the particular study being studied. For the present study,
positivism as a research philosophy is applied as it primarily focus on collecting and using
secondary information to help researcher in attaining valid outcomes of study efficiently as well
as effectively.
Research design: It is important and is an integral part of the process which is highly
divided into three descriptive, evaluative and experimental types as well. It is analysed that all of
these are effective research design methods that assist the researcher in identifying research
problems. In the current report, the design of the experimental study was used as it helps to gain
insight into the general aspects of the research problem. In addition to this, it also assists the
researcher in analysing secondary literature review data in an efficient and systematic way.