Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Small and Medium Enterprises in Bangladesh

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dc.creator Islam, Asadul
dc.creator Rahman, Atiya
dc.creator Nisat, Rafia
dc.date 2021-08-19T10:36:08Z
dc.date 2021-08-19T10:36:08Z
dc.date 2020-12
dc.date.accessioned 2022-05-26T08:48:12Z
dc.date.available 2022-05-26T08:48:12Z
dc.identifier Islam, A.; Rahman, A. and Nisat, R. (2021) The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Small and Medium Enterprises in Bangladesh, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, Development Economics Series 01: Working Paper, Dhaka: BIGD
dc.identifier https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/16801
dc.identifier https://bigd.bracu.ac.bd/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/WP_Impact-of-COVID-19-Pandemic-on-Small-and-Medium-Enterprises-in-Bangladesh.pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/198608
dc.description Like other economic players, the novel pandemic severely hit small businesses—the larger source of growth and employment but also the most vulnerable sector—by disrupting national and international business networks, supply chain, and demand. To understand the evolving state of small enterprises during pre, par, and post-lockdown periods, BIGD in collaboration with Monash University, Australia conducted a survey on small enterprises, mostly light-engineering firms, and young workers across 18 districts in Bangladesh. The study finds that lockdown measures caused the majority of small enterprises shut down, and during the early period of relaxing the lockdown, one-third of the enterprises were operating at limited capacity. Demand drop and the burden of fixed costs to run the businesses were the prominent reasons behind the drastic fall in profit. As result, workers were losing jobs and the gender gap was widening, because female labour-intensive work (i.e. beauty parlour, tailoring) was affected harder. Other findings of concern include the emerging vulnerabilities for the enterprises with lower endowment and poor access to government stimulus packages, and other financial support. The study emphasises on the importance of concrete targeting criteria and support delivery platforms to assist more vulnerable enterprises. Finally, it highlights that the enterprises that received BRAC’s intensive training on occupational health and safety (OHS), along with business training and financial linkages, made double profit compared to their counterparts. However, the absolute amount of profit was substantially lower for both groups, compared to their pre-COVID profit, indicating the importance of scaling up such intensive training to create more resilient enterprises in such crises.
dc.description BRAC Institute of Governance and Development
dc.language en
dc.publisher BRAC Institute of Governance and Development
dc.relation BRAC Institute of Governance and Development Development Economics Series;Working Paper 1
dc.rights https://www.ids.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Latest_IDSOpenDocs_ExternalDocuments2020.pdf
dc.rights BRAC Institute of Governance and Development
dc.subject Economic Development
dc.subject Finance
dc.subject Industrial Development
dc.subject Technology
dc.subject Trade
dc.subject Work and Labour
dc.title The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Small and Medium Enterprises in Bangladesh
dc.type Other


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