Hard Cash in Hard Times—The Effect of Institutional Support for Businesses Shaken by COVID-19

Abstract

This study analyzed 350 companies based in the Śląskie Province that received financial aid to avoid the negative impacts of COVID-19. This study focused on the structure of companies receiving public support due to their business being at risk of negative impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the amount and type of support. It also classified industries by the amount of subsidy. When analyzing the available data, the Kruskal–Wallis test was applied, which is a nonparametric equivalent of the one-way analysis of variance. It was used to test whether the selected factors significantly affect the values of individual measures. Although the amounts of subsidies received vary, they have contributed to preserving at-risk jobs due to the public health crisis and maintaining the competitiveness of affected micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).