UK Small Businesses and Pandemic: Impact on Rowlinson Knitwear Growth

This report investigates the impact of the pandemic on small businesses in the United Kingdom, focusing on Rowlinson Knitwear. It identifies the challenges faced by small businesses due to the pandemic, examines the role of the UK government in protecting them, and recognizes strategies for reducing the pandemic's impact on their growth. The research questions delve into the specific challenges faced by Rowlinson Knitwear, the government's role in supporting them, effective strategies for mitigating the pandemic's impact, and the benefits gained by overcoming these challenges. The methodology employs a positivism research philosophy, a deductive approach, and a survey strategy, utilizing both primary and secondary data collection methods. The report concludes by discussing the limitations of the methodology and adhering to research ethics.

Impact of Pandemic
on Small Business
1

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................5
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND DATA.............................................................................7
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
2

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Overview of the topic
Small businesses are defined as such businesses those are owned by privately owned
corporations or any sole proprietorship and those are having lesser number of employees and
annual turnover. Growth opportunities within small businesses are having higher growth
opportunities as these businesses has capabilities to satisfy needs and demands of customers
which helps the business to get succeeded (Akpan, Soopramanien and Kwak, 2020). In the
current time due to implication of COVID the growth of small businesses are facing negative
issues as due to lesser working capital they do not get much time to work without profits. This
report is analysing differential aspects linked with challenges and role of government within
small businesses of UK.
Research aim
Main aim of this research is “To identify the impact of pandemic situation on the growth of small
business within United Kingdom: A study on Rowlinson Knitwear
Research objectives
 To identify the challenges faced by small business due to pandemic
 To examine the role of government of UK in protecting small business from pandemic
 To recognise the strategies that would be used by small business of UK for reducing the
impact of pandemic on their growth
 To evaluate the benefits that are gained by small business by overcoming the challenges
of Pandemic
Research questions
 What are the major challenges faced by Rowlinson Knitwear due to pandemic?
 What are the roles of government of UK in protecting Rowlinson Knitwear from
pandemic?
 What are the effective strategies that would be used by Rowlinson Knitwear for reducing
the impact of pandemic on their growth?
 What are the benefits that are gained by small business by overcoming the challenges of
Pandemic?
Rationale of the research
3

The major rationale behind this research is to understand the aspects and reasons by
which small businesses are facing issues during pandemic. Besides this the research is
developing such effective strategies which can be used by small businesses in order to mitigate
these challenges of pandemic (Aladejebi, 2020). On the other hand, researcher is having personal
aspects related with enhancing several skills using this research. This research will lead the
researcher to develop various skills such as communication skills, research skills, analytical
skills and many other and the same can be used by them in further researches in order to develop
further researches in effective manner.
4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
What are the major challenges faced by Rowlinson Knitwear due to pandemic?
According to Aladejebi, (2020), there are various challenges which are being faced by
small business during pandemic which lead the business to minimise their growth opportunities
and to face losses as well. In the context of Rowlinson Knitwear the company is facing issues of
managing their working capital in such a way that they can organise their operational activities in
prominent manner. Besides this the company is facing issue of minimised customer base as
buying power of customers have decreased due to which customer are spending their money on
necessities.
What are the roles of government of UK in protecting Rowlinson Knitwear from pandemic?
According to Akpan Soopramanien and Kwak, (2020), there are certain measures which
are being taken by UK government in order to develop their response and to mitigate issue of
global pandemic and its impact from small businesses. The government has given
acknowledgement in relation to number of employees so that Rowlinson Knitwear may use the
same in order to mitigate their businesses from additional losses of paying unnecessary salaries
to employees. Besides this relaxation within taxes are also given to small businesses which is
helpful for such businesses in order to fight against pandemic.
What are the effective strategies that would be used by Rowlinson Knitwear for reducing the
impact of pandemic on their growth?
According to Chowdhury and et. al, (2020), there are different strategies that can be used
by small businesses in order to reduce the impact of Pandemic in effective manner. In primal
manner Rowlinson Knitwear is required to develop appropriate planning to their businesses in
their functions so that the same can be used within managing business functions in time of
pandemic. Besides this by using digitization it will be beneficial for the organisation to reach out
to maximum number of customers as their marketing tool in minimum cost. On the other hand,
by adopting change management as prominent tool will lead the business to develop their market
growth and survival opportunities as well.
What are the benefits that are gained by small business by overcoming the challenges of
Pandemic?
According to Snower, (2020), there are numerous benefits which are attained by small
businesses when they overcome with the challenges faced due to pandemic. In the context of
5

Rowlinson Knitwear by dealing with barrier of pandemic the company is able to acquire high
range of customers which may lead the organisation to earn more profits and market
sustainability. Besides this it will render higher brand image and awareness into the market so
that the company will be able to attain significant edge into competitive market.
6

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND DATA
Research methodology is the process of data collection and evaluation used by researcher
for attaining research aim through research questions. There are various kinds of research
methodologies, which described as below;
Research philosophy: This section of methodology has three types that are epistemology,
ontology and axiology. All these are effective but in accordance to the current research,
epistemology will be a selected philosophy. This philosophy has three parts including positivism,
interpretivisim and critical realism (Basias and Pollalis, 2018). All these are essential but
positivism will be a chosen philosophy because it facilitate in collecting numerical information
in minimum time period. Main benefit behind the use of positivism philosophy is it not takes
maximum amount of capital as compared to interpretivisim and critical realism philosophy.
Research approach: There are two approaches that helps investigator in evaluating
gathered information regarding any topic or subject (Teoh, 2019). Within a research study,
deductive approach will be applied because it assists in evaluating numerical information easily.
Main advantage of selecting this approach is it helps in developing valid conclusion. Inductive
approach is not a selected approach because it takes maximum time and cost.
Research strategy: There are numerous research strategies such as survey, action research,
experiment and many more (Coombes and Ryder, 2019). All these are effective but in
accordance to the present study, survey will be a selected strategy. There are certain benefits of
using survey strategy such as assist in collecting numerical information from larger population,
provide valid outcomes and many others.
Research choice: There are two types of research such as qualitative and quantitative. Both
types are choices are essential but for conducting present investigation, quantitative will be a
selected choice because it assist in collection data from first-hand source i.e. questionnaire
(Rosskam, 2018). This is an essential instrument because with the help of this, researcher can
easily collect numerical data. Therefore, as compared to qualitative research, quantitative is more
time and cost effective method.
Data Collection: There are two methods of gathering data regarding any topic or subject.
These methods are primary and secondary. In this research, both methods of data collection are
applying with purpose of attaining research aim and objective. In order to gather primary
information, questionnaire is going to using by investigator. For collecting secondary
7

information, books, articles etc. sources are used for literature review. Therefore, within a
research, both sources of data collection are used for achieving research aim and objectives.
Data analysis: This is the process of evaluating gathered information from research
analytical technique. In this dissertation, quantitative information will be collected by researcher
through questionnaire, and for analysing this, frequency distribution analysis is used (Dodds and
Hess, 2020). Main benefit regarding the use of frequency distribution analysis is it not takes
maximum time.
Limitations of the methodology: There are certain limitations of the research method such
as lack of time regarding the selection of effective methodology, not helps in identifying accurate
opinion of respondents etc.
Research ethics: There are various principles of research ethics such as informed consent,
maintaining confidentiality of research data and many more (Ragab and Arisha, 2018).
Time scale: Time is important within a dissertation because it assist in completing each
activity within given time period. Gantt chart is used for time scale;
8

9

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akpan, I.J., Soopramanien, D. and Kwak, D.H., 2020. Cutting-edge technologies for small
business and innovation in the era of COVID-19 global health pandemic. Journal of
Small Business & Entrepreneurship, pp.1-11.
Aladejebi, O., 2020. Managing small businesses in Nigeria during covid-19 crisis: impact and
survival strategies. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM), 22(8),
pp.24-34.
Basias, N. and Pollalis, Y., 2018. Quantitative and qualitative research in business & technology:
Justifying a suitable research methodology. Review of Integrative Business and
Economics Research. 7. pp.91-105.
Chowdhury, M.T., Sarkar, A., Paul, S.K. and Moktadir, M.A., 2020. A case study on strategies
to deal with the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in the food and beverage
industry. Operations Management Research, pp.1-13.
Coombes, J. and Ryder, C., 2019. Walking together to create harmony in research: A Murri
woman’s approach to Indigenous research methodology. Qualitative Research in
Organizations and Management: An International Journal.
Dodds, S. and Hess, A. C., 2020. Adapting research methodology during COVID-19: lessons for
transformative service research. Journal of Service Management.
Ragab, M. A. and Arisha, A., 2018. Research methodology in business: A starter’s
guide. Management and Organizational Studies. 5(1). pp.1-14.
Rosskam, E., 2018. Using participatory action research methodology to improve worker health.
In Unhealthy Work (pp. 211-228). Routledge.
Snower, D., 2020. The Socio-Economics of Pandemics Policy.
Teoh, S. H., 2019. A Practice in a Research Methodology Class. Asian Journal of University
Education. 15(3). pp.45-53.
10