Government Support and Institutions’ Intermediation throughout Companies’ Adaptation to the COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract

The current health and economic crisis is an unprecedented event in the recent history of humanity. Given the lack of treatment and the rapid spread of the virus, several countries and/or local governments had to adopt measures of social distancing and movement restriction. The scenario set by the pandemic, therefore, brought up the need for quick adaptation and innovation, so companies could avoid liquidity and bankruptcy issues. Additionally, as a means to prevent firms’ problems from generating a major macro-economic crisis, governments had to offer a range of support programs as ways to sustain employment and income. Given the dire need to find new ways to conduct businesses, this article sought to understand whether or not government support is a key factor for organizations to adjust or convert—totally or partially—their products or services. The applied methodology was logistic regression, and to solve eventual endogeneity problems, we applied the bivariate Probit model. More than 11,000 observations were included in the main model. The results showed that government support was an important element for companies to adapt their products and services during the first wave of COVID-19. Therefore, companies in countries with stronger institutional environments performed better than those in weaker settings.

Os reflexos da pandemia covid-19 nas demonstrações financeiras das companhias abertas brasileiras

“…Reavaliando os lucros previstos e a recuperabilidade desses ativos considerando as incertezas resultantes do vírus e as medidas admitidas para controlá-lo (PWC, 2020). A incerteza gerada somada às medidas de restrição e os impactos nas organizações fizeram com que os governos interviessem para evitar maiores complicações (Pereira & Saes, 2022). Como forma de garantir o distanciamento social e, consequentemente, a propagação do vírus e buscando minimizar os impactos econômicos, os governos iniciaram ações de emergência, como restrições de mobilidade e pacotes econômicos que auxiliam na redução de novas infecções, mas prejudicam o emprego e renda da população (Ashraf, 2022).…”

“…A atuação do Estado frente às dificuldades econômicas atua como forma de preservar empregos, garantir a renda e evitar falências, somado a isso, as empresas precisam se adaptar ao ambiente marcado por restrição de liquidez, fazendo com que o apoio governamental seja essencial (Pereira & Saes, 2022). Observa-se aqui a contradição entre Asharaf (2022) e Pereira e Saes (2022) em relação aos empregos e, na verdade, isso se deve aos diferentes efeitos em distintos setores e regiões.…”