POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON BUSINESSES

V zaključkih leta 2020 se je v kitajskem mestu Wuhan začel širiti virus imenovan SARS-CoV2. Po skoraj dveh mesecih je svetovna organizacija za zdravje proglasila virus za svetovno pandemijo. Virus je med ljudmi povročal strah, izoliranost, bolezni in v nekaterih primerih tudi smrt. Posledično je imel velik vpliv na gospodarstvo tako v svetu kot tudi v Sloveniji. Zlasti so bili prizadeti turizem, gostinstvo, prehrambena panoga, a najbolj avtomobilska industrija. Pandemija je številnim gospodarstvenim panogam povzročila veliko negativnih posledic, a za nekatera tudi pozitivne. Podjetja, ki so doživela pozitivne vplive, so bila v veliki meri tista, ki so se ukvarjala s spletno prodajo, dostavo in zdravstvom. Veliko podjetij je na tržišču zaznalo tudi priložnosti, kako prilagoditi svoje dejavnosti pandemiji. Mnogo podjetij je začelo uporabljati priporočeno zaščito zaposlenih s šiviljskimi maskami, varnostno razdaljo ter drugimi dejavniki. V delu diplomske naloge sem se osredotočil na okolje podjetij, saj se je to med pandemijo zelo hitro spreminjalo, in na to, kako so vodje svoja podjetja prilagajali spremembam. S strani vlade so tedensko prihajala nova pravila in novi zakoni, ki so vplivali na podjetja in zahtevali spremembe v njihovem delovanju. V delu sem se osredotočil na negativne vplive pandemije na gostinstvo in pozitivne vplive na podjetja v povezavi s spletno prodajo v okviru prehrambene trgovine. Podjetja sem analiziral na podlagi PEST analize in z njo preučil dejavnike, ki so vplivali nanje.In the endings of the year 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 virus began to spread in the city of Wuhan, after which it became a global health concern. After some time the world health organisation declared the virus a global pandemic. The virus has caused fear, isolation, health concerns and even death among people. But it also had a great influence on various parts of the economical environment in Slovenia as well as everywhere in the world. Tourism, catering, food stores and the automotive industry were particularly affected. The pandemic brought many negative consequences in the economy, as well as positive consequences for some companies. Companies that experienced positive impacts were largely companies that dealt with online sales, product service, medicine, and also some other companies. Many companies also saw opportunities in the market to adapt their activities to the pandemic situation. Many companies have started to use the recommended protection for their employees with protective masks, safety distances and other attempts. In the first part of my thesis, I focused on the environment of companies, as this was changing very quickly during the pandemic. I also analyzed how company managers adapted their company to the changes. New rules new legislation were coming from the government side on weekly basis, which affected companies and required a lot of changes within them. In the second part, I focused on the negative impacts of the pandemic on a catering company and on the positive impacts of a company focused on online sales. I analyzed the companies based on the PEST analysis and used it to study the factors that influenced it