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Introduction

The Covid-19 pandemic outbreak hit the world over two years ago, and no one could have
predicted how much of an influence it would have on the global economic landscape. This
epidemic has taken many lives and has spread all over the world. The covid-19 outbreak
started from Wuhan, China that have affected import and export their activities. As we know,
China is the largest importer at present. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced
the Covid-19 pandemic on March 11th, 2020, which had a significant influence on business,
education, and all other sectors. As a result, the government enacted the Movement Control
Order (MCO) starting March 18th to prevent and control the spread of Covid-19. Small
businesses may be most affected, as they tend to be more concentrated in sectors directly
affected by the Covid-19 response measures, such as retail and services, and are often more
credit-limited than bigger businesses. Importantly, small businesses make up a large portion
of the economy and employ a sizable proportion of the workforce. Malaysia's economy, like
many others throughout the world, experienced a recession last year, declining at a rate of 5.6
percent. Covid-19 has brought to light global supply chain connections as well as risks and
limitations. China, the United States of America (US), and the European Union (economy
G3) all experienced supply and demand shocks. The economies of these three countries
comprise 63% of the import supply and 64% of the world's export supply chain. They are not
only among the largest exporters in the world but also a major importer of raw materials and
intermediate goods, hence making this economy an important role in the global supply chain.
The economic supply chain closure will result in international trade losses of USD126.3
billion in manufacturing inputs, and the continued impact will extend globally and trigger a
severe shock to partner economies.
Background of the issue

As the number of Covid-19 continues to increase, it has had a huge impact on small
businesses. They had to incur huge losses and some had to stop their business operations.
They have to face the problems where their products are less in demand and turn, result in
declining sales performance and the company’s operations not being able to run smoothly.
There are many surveys on the pandemic effects of Covid-19 on small business that shows
that they are seriously affected. More than half of small businesses are experiencing serious
production losses. They are worried about their business shut down within a month, and some
of them said that they would close their business within three months if they did not receive
further support. The majority of business owner depends on their savings for operating costs
and working capital, while some depend on loans. This report will look at the impact of the
Covid-19 pandemic on the outcomes of small businesses operating in the industrial sector and
provides solutions for this issue.

Ernst & Young. (2020). COVID-19: Impact on Malaysian business. Retrieved September 9,
2020, from https://www.ey.com/en_my/take-5-business-alert/covid-19-impact-on-malaysian-
businesses

SME Corporation Malaysia. (2021, April 6). Special highlights Covid 19: Impact on
businesses and SMEs-Global, Regional and National Perspective from
https://smecorp.gov.my/images/pdf/2021/LTPKS/BI/Main%20Report/6.%20SME
%20Insights%202019-20%20-%20Special%20Highlights.pdf

A Tong & Rachel Gong. (2020, October 10). The impact of Covid-19 on SME digitalisation
in Malaysia from https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/seac/2020/10/20/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-sme-
digitalisation-in-malaysia/

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