THE IMPACT OF THE SILENT ENEMY (COVID-19 PANDEMIC) ON THE MARKETING EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES IN MALAYSIA

The impact of a dangerous pandemic to human life is not a new chapter in human history. However, the silent enemy (Covid-19) pandemic crept from Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, at an exponential rate that it shifted the rhythm of the world. The crisis that started in China has become a global crisis that crippled many nations in terms of health and economy. From the events that have happened and still happening, we can notice that humans were not prepared for the onslaught of this killer pandemic. The businesses and industries in Malaysia were also not spared by this killer pandemic. One of the hard-hit industries, due to this pandemic is the automotive industry in Malaysia. Therefore, this research aims to discover how Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the marketing efforts undertaken by the automotive industry in Malaysia. Consequently, to achieve the objective of this research, the survey technique is used to develop a detailed profile, which is gathered from 337 out of 450 formal standardized questionnaires sent online to marketers at twelve automotive companies in Malaysia. This research applied the quantitative methods to yield empirical results and validations that answer the research question. The literature examined the areas of the marketing concept, context and strategies to fill the gap and to determine the significant relationship between the Covid-19 pandemic and the marketing efforts undertaken by the marketers of the automotive industry. The analysis shows that Covid-19 pandemic has a significant relationship and correlated negatively to marketing efforts. The hypothesis proved that Covid-19 pandemic has a significant relationship with marketing efforts. Thus, this study could also help all other businesses and industries in Malaysia stay vigilant and overwhelm the assault of this silent enemy. By making a shift to its marketing concept, context and strategies, the automotive industry could regain its momentum from the onslaught of the silent enemy (Covid-19) pandemic. Article visualizations