A Survey on the Impacts of Pandemic Covid-19 Among SMEs and the Survival Strategies Adopted

Abstract

The Covid -19 pandemic that hit the world has already entered its second year. As in Malaysia, it is no exception to receive the great blow of this pandemic which has affected various industries. The pandemic has led many countries to enforce movement control and travel restrictions. When the government declared the Movement Control Order (MCO) for the first time started on 18 March 2020 (phase 1) and keep extended with no sign of ending, small businesses with limited resources, gain experienced business cancellation, breakdown of the supply chain, and disruption of operation. The impact of pandemic is uneven across sectors. SMEs engaged in services are the worst affected especially those related to accommodation and travelling. On the other hand, some businesses found a benefit on it especially those related to digital and innovation technological businesses. For survival strategies, SMEs is seen to be prepared to adopt new norms, including changing business operation from physical shop to home based and online platform. Therefore, this paper aims to study the impact of the pandemic Covid – 19 as well as the survival strategies adopted by small businesses. To achieve this objective, data collection has taken place through an online questionnaire survey, which was carried out among small businesses in Kemaman, Terengganu. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS. The outcome revealed that SMEs financially and operationally suffered due to pandemic Covid – 19. Most SMEs were aware of Government's initiative through SME Corporation Malaysia. However, they were unsure the initiatives provided guaranteed long-term business survival. Thus, the finding provides insight information on the benefit of the government initiative to assist SMEs in sustaining their business survival