Coping with Crisis: A Regional Study on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Consumer-Facing Businesses in South Africa

Abstract

The spread of COVID-19 over the span of over two year is a strong testament to the fact that we live in a truly integrated global community. The estimation of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is at an early stage but is significant, even catastrophic, for many emerging economies. The precise economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of the measures taken by the South African government to mitigate the transmission of the virus is still unknown, and the effect of COVID-19 on South African businesses has not yet been widely reported in the literature. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses in the Western Cape, South Africa. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with a sample of 1694 business executives in the Western Cape province, South Africa. The findings show how businesses in different industries, and of all sizes, adapted their business models to the changing environmental conditions within a short period. The results indicate that the crisis is causing major business changes, including loss of revenue, work-from-home arrangements, bridging finance, restructuring debt, retrenchment and closing of businesses. In addition, the crisis has led to a tentative digitalization.