Effect of Financial/Pandemic crisis on a selected companies of food industry in USA

Maksym Fatianov

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

A financial crisis is always unexpected, but always leads to significant consequences and has a huge impact on the different sectors of the economy and big amounts of businesses all around the world, while most of the effects of the crisis are often underestimated. Economic crises can be caused by a range of different factors, from economic imbalances to natural disasters or global pandemics. The duration and severity of the crisis also depend on a wide variety of factors, which mainly contribute to responses of economic systems, as, for example, the implementation of different policies for overcoming it. One interesting aspect of economic crises is their ability to cause political and social instability. For example, in the times of the Great Depression in the 1930s economic situation in the world led to a rise in poverty and unemployment rate, which can be considered as a main distribution for the rise of authoritarian regimes, which was one of the causes of World War II. The aim of the thesis will be the analysis and comparison of different business (or financial) strategies of selected companies between 2016-2021. The analysis will be based on the data obtained from financial analysis of companies that successfully survived the crisis. Finally, suggestions on different key factors of successful companies and market mapping will be provided. The theoretical part mainly consists description of different types of crises, as well as the most popular causes of them and the effects crises have on the economy. There is also an establishment of the definition and explanation of the pandemic crisis and a comparison with the economic crises, based on the severity, duration, causes, and effects of it. The practical part consists of the financial analysis of the companies, which were successful during the crisis period, caused by the spread of COVID-19 disease. Financial analysis is performed based on indicators of the financial health of the company and financial documents. The conclusion of this bachelor’s thesis contains the results of the analysis of successful companies during the pandemic crisis. Analysis show, that both analyzed companies have a very high degree of adaptability to unpredictable and changeable market condition, which is considered a main key-success factor in overcoming financial or pandemic crisis,

Abstract:

A financial crisis is always unexpected, but always leads to significant consequences and has a huge impact on the different sectors of the economy and big amounts of businesses all around the world, while most of the effects of the crisis are often underestimated. Economic crises can be caused by a range of different factors, from economic imbalances to natural disasters or global pandemics. The duration and severity of the crisis also depend on a wide variety of factors, which mainly contribute to responses of economic systems, as, for example, the implementation of different policies for overcoming it. One interesting aspect of economic crises is their ability to cause political and social instability. For example, in the times of the Great Depression in the 1930s economic situation in the world led to a rise in poverty and unemployment rate, which can be considered as a main distribution for the rise of authoritarian regimes, which was one of the causes of World War II. The aim of the thesis will be the analysis and comparison of different business (or financial) strategies of selected companies between 2016-2021. The analysis will be based on the data obtained from financial analysis of companies that successfully survived the crisis. Finally, suggestions on different key factors of successful companies and market mapping will be provided. The theoretical part mainly consists description of different types of crises, as well as the most popular causes of them and the effects crises have on the economy. There is also an establishment of the definition and explanation of the pandemic crisis and a comparison with the economic crises, based on the severity, duration, causes, and effects of it. The practical part consists of the financial analysis of the companies, which were successful during the crisis period, caused by the spread of COVID-19 disease. Financial analysis is performed based on indicators of the financial health of the company and financial documents. The conclusion of this bachelor’s thesis contains the results of the analysis of successful companies during the pandemic crisis. Analysis show, that both analyzed companies have a very high degree of adaptability to unpredictable and changeable market condition, which is considered a main key-success factor in overcoming financial or pandemic crisis,

Keywords

Financial crisis, Pandemic crisis, Impact of the crisis, causes of the crisis, USA, restaurant business in USA, overcoming of the crisis, McDonald’s, Starbucks, key-success factors

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 28. 4. 2023

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 13. 6. 2023
• Supervisor: Ing. Eva Kostikov, Ph.D.
• Reader: Ing. Andrea Tomášková, Ph.D.

University of Finance and Administration

Bachelor programme / field:
Economics and Management / Economics and Management