The Impact of Covid-19 on High Growth Firms in Hull: A Study about Business Digitalisation and Its Role in Adapting to Covid-19 Business Environment

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly slowed down the business world, forcing firms to adapt to this new normal. Among various adaptation strategies towards COVID-19, digitalization is one of the go-to strategies for firms especially High Growth Firms (HGFs) to mitigate the adverse impacts of the pandemic. The study will explore how COVID-19 impacted HGFs from various industries, their strategies to combat COVID-19, and the role of digitalization to combat COVID-19. Data collection is done through interview, and data is processed using a series of Open, Axial, and Selective Coding through the Nvivo 12 software. The study results show that COVID-19 has brought many challenges for HGFs, but it also has brought some advantages and opportunities that these HGFs capitalize. Furthermore, a unique scenario in Hull can be observed where HGFs are largely digitalized even before COVID-19, and those who haven’t highlights digitalization as one of their highest priorities. The findings of this study are expected to provide other businesses with insights to overcome COVID-19 obstacles, or accelerate their growth. Furthermore, the study can be a reference for future studies who want to explore topics related to HGFs, COVID-19, and digitalization.

Keywords: Business Strategies, COVID-19, Digitalization, High Growth Firms (HGFs), Hull