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Assessment of the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on SMES : evidence from Lithuania SMES

Barkauskaite, Aida
(2021)

Files

barkauskaite_15221901_2021.pdf
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Details

Supervisors
Gilson, Nathalie
Faculty
Louvain School of Management
Degree label
Master [120] en sciences de gestion, à finalité spécialisée
Abstract
The Master's thesis aims to identify whether or not SMEs are similar in terms of financial performance in the pre-crisis period when comparing pre-crisis periods of the 2008 global financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic crisis. To achieve its aim, the thesis consists of three parts. The first part includes the theoretical framework that allows evaluating the significant impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on SMEs and compares SMEs' financial performance during different crises periods to the previous studies. In the second part, two hypotheses are formulated regarding the SMEs' financial performance: 1) to test the effects of liquidity and leverage on profitability; 2) to test the effects of leverage on asset structure. Empirical research focuses on Lithuanian SMEs during two pre-crisis periods of 2006-2008 and 2018-2019. The third part presents the obtained results: 1) cash ratio and leverage positively impact profitability, and the current ratio and short-term debt have a negative effect on profitability during both pre-crisis periods; 2) debt-to-equity positively impacts asset structure during 2006-2008 but has negative effect during 2018-2019, while the current debt-to-total assets ratio results in a negative effect during both pre-crisis periods.