The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Firm Performance

2020/07/25 by Huayu Shen, Mengyao Fu, Hongyu Pan +2
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Business, Management and Accounting · #COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts #Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting #Financial Markets and Investment Strategies

paper · doi:10.1080/1540496x.2020.1785863

openalex publication_date 2020/07/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

Using the financial data of listed Chinese companies, we study the impact of COVID-19 on corporate performance. We show that COVID-19 has a negative impact on firm performance. The negative impact of COVID-19 on firm performance is more pronounced when a firm’s investment scale or sales revenue is smaller. We show, in an additional analysis, that the negative impact of COVID-19 on firm performance is more pronounced in serious-impact areas and industries. These findings are among the first empirical evidence of the association between pandemic and firm performance.

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