Impact of COVID-19 on food outlets: symmetric or asymmetric? A case study of Amritsar

PurposeThe present study is an intra-industry analysis, which aims to investigate whether the impact of COVID-19 on employment level, clientele rate, liquidity constraints and sustainability aspect of different food outlets is symmetric or asymmetric in nature.Design/methodology/approachWith the help of well-structured questionnaire, the study has surveyed 80 food outlets in total by interviewing the managers and owners of these outlets. Food outlets have been classified into four categories namely international, national, local and street food outlets. Econometric techniques like MANOVA and Garret ranking have been employed to fulfil the objective of the study.FindingsThe results depict that the impact of COVID-19 on employment level and liquidity constraints is significantly asymmetric amongst different groups of food outlets, even though the decline in extent of clientele is somewhat same for all groups. The survival aspect of outlets also witnesses clear-cut asymmetry in results as big outlets have greater potential to survive for longer if lockdown happens again when compared to street food outlets as their financial availability and stability differ.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size of study is restricted, mainly due to lesser number of national franchise's food outlets available in Amritsar, though other categories of eateries were sufficient in number. Further, the study is restricted only to one district of Punjab state, whereas for future research, inter-district comparison can be done.Practical implicationsThe findings reveal that the street food outlets may gain by fostering its online functioning. Similarly national food outlets are encouraged to alter their business strategies to revive their sales against their competitors.Originality/valueThis study is one of the explorer studies to analyse the impact of COVID-19 by making an intra-industry comparison for the eatery industry – considering four different categories of eateries. The classification of eateries helps in analysing whether the employment level, clientele rate, liquidity constraints and survival perspective have been affected symmetrically for the whole eateries industry or does severity of being affected differ asymmetrically. The study makes a contribution by adding a new string of dimension to the existing load of literature in the domain of hospitality.

Is marketing investment similar cross-industry?

Purpose This paper aims to analyze if the relevance of marketing strategies is the same across 11 industries. Design/methodology/approach To reach these objectives, secondary information about 500 companies operating in the USA was analyzed. This information was listed on the US Standard & Poor’s 500-company index (SPX Charts, n.d.), and this information was collected for eight different periods (from 2009 to 2016). In addition, to do a cross-industry analysis, data was collected for 11 different industries. Multiple regression analysis and ANOVA test were applied. Findings The results lead us to conclude that marketing strategies vary according to industry. Originality/value The added value of this paper is that it elaborates on the marketing-accounting interface to bridge the existing gap. A cross-industry comparison is added while previous research has mainly analyzed specific results for a particular sector. This suggests more accurate valuation techniques for marketers, executives and other stakeholders.