BVA Doxa presented a survey on the effects of the spread of Coronavirus and on the related measures to contain contagion on the business of Italian companies.
The analysis examined a sample of 301 Italian companies: 48% SMEs and 52% medium and large companies, 54% located in Lombardy, 22% in the rest of Northern Italy, 22% in the center, 2% South and islands. As for the area of activity: 35% only Italian companies, 28% Italian companies with offices abroad, 37% foreign multinationals operating in Italy. For what concerns the sector: 20% is represented by companies active in consulting / business services, 20% in finance / utilities / tlc, 18% in consumer goods / retail, 16% in pharmaceuticals, 11% in pharmaceuticals media / entertainment, 7% industry and 8% other.
Second BVA Doxa the impact of the pandemic spread on business can be described as abrupt and immediate: as many as 76% of the companies interviewed in fact declare a negative impact from the first hour, while one in 5 companies expects to experience the first effects starting from April. Effects that 4 out of 5 companies consider high and that affect equally small companies, with less than 50 employees, and large ones, with over a thousand employees.
For 2 out of 3 companies, the emergency will negatively affect the demand for products and services at national level. Almost half of them (45%) believe that they will face a 10% drop. The outlook for the demand for products and services on the international markets remains more uncertain: the 34% don’t know yet how will be the future scenarios, even though the 43% of the companies already declare that they also observe negative repercussions on exports.
In general, small entrepreneurs express the greatest concerns: 77% of SMEs will experience significant decreases in domestic demand, while the 56% of that across borders.
To counter the crisis and preserve economic sustainability, second BVA Doxa will scale back a significant part of their investments. The most significant reductions will be in particular in investments in marketing and communication. Followed by commercial development policies, by the launch of new products and services, by research and development activities.
However, a significant percentage of companies go against the trend and declare that in order to react to the crisis, some particularly strategic investments will increase: one company out of 4 will increase marketing activities, while 41% will use the moment to increase or maintain their media presence.
As regards the future, 67% of companies express fears that the situation will have particularly significant repercussions for a long period of time. A third of companies are more optimistic and believe that the crisis can resolve itself in a few months.