Majority of SMEs do not see certificate obligation as a disadvantage
Three quarters of Swiss SMEs assess the certificate obligation as neutral or positive. In the catering and hotel industry, on the other hand, almost 60 percent assess the effects as negative. This is shown by the sixth Coronavirus SME Panel of the ZHAW.
39 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises in Switzerland rate the mandatory certification introduced in mid-September as positive or very positive. A further 36 percent assess the effects for their own company as neither good nor bad. Negative or very negative consequences are observed by one in four SMEs, and just under one in five feel that they are at a disadvantage compared with other sectors. These are the results of the sixth survey of the Coronavirus SME Panel of the ZHAW School of Management and Law. For the study, ZHAW researchers surveyed 201 small and medium-sized enterprises from mid to late September.
Further redundancies
"Overall, many SMEs do not see any major disadvantages in the certificate requirement. However, the perception varies greatly from sector to sector," explains study leader Andreas Schweizer from the ZHAW Corporate Performance and Sustainable Financing Unit. The catering and hotel industries are the most critical: 58 percent of the companies surveyed in this sector rate the consequences as negative or very negative.
The pandemic continues to have a negative impact on employment in SMEs: In the last six months, 27 percent of survey participants had to lay off employees, the majority (19 percent) did so because of the corona crisis. "This figure is higher than the proportion of SMEs that expected imminent layoffs as early as March 2021," Schweizer says. Companies in the machinery and electrical industry, in other services such as travel agencies or in retail trade were particularly affected. Between March 2020 and March 2021, 35 percent of SMEs had already laid off employees. For the next 12 months, one fifth consider layoffs to be probable or very probable.
Outlook is more optimistic
At the same time, SMEs assess their general outlook as better than before: around four out of ten companies still expect Covid-19 to have a negative impact on their business activities in the next 12 months. This is the lowest figure since the beginning of the pandemic. The majority do not expect any further impact or see the future situation as positive (39 and 23 percent respectively). In addition, two-thirds assess the current demand for their own products and services as rather good to very good. "One major challenge, however, is the availability of raw materials and semi-finished products," says the ZHAW researcher. "51 percent of SMEs assess this as rather poor to even threatening their existence. That is more than in March 2020."
A Covid loan guaranteed by the federal government has been claimed by 43 percent of the companies surveyed. Slightly more than two-thirds of these have not yet repaid the loan in full. Seven percent of SMEs using the loan say they will not be able to repay it in the future either. This is significantly fewer than in March 2021 (24 percent). However, some of the companies are also deliberately foregoing repayment for the time being: four out of ten companies with an open loan would instead like to use it for future liquidity bottlenecks. (Press release ZHAW)
Continuous surveys
The new edition of the ZHAW Corona SME Panel follows on from the five previous surveys conducted in March, April, June and September 2020 and March 2021. Currently, ZHAW researchers surveyed small and medium-sized enterprises from all over German-speaking Switzerland online from 15 to 26 September 2021. Since they have already participated in previous surveys, the study shows the development of the economic situation of SMEs since the outbreak of the pandemic. In the interest of timeliness, the ZHAW writes that it did not include a fully representative weighted coverage of all sectors and company sizes.
