Never let a good crisis go to waste : En intervjustudie om hur budgetens roll påverkats under Covid-19

Sammanfattning: Problem discussion: Budgeting is about different assessments of the future and is based onthe premises that are considered when the budget is drawn up. When these assumptions turnout to be incorrect, the forecast can be misleading. This means that when organizations needa tool they can rely on the most, the budget will be the least helpful. Covid-19 has brought abig change in conditions for the hotel industry. The industry lost around 4 million guestnights between 2019 and 2020 in Sweden. Some research on how Covid-19 has affectedgovernment budgeting already exists, but when it comes to research regarding how Covid-19and economic crisis have affected budgeting in the private sector, previous research isrelatively limited. This study therefore intends to further contribute to observing how the roleof budgeting has been affected during the economic crisis. This with a focus on the privatesector, by examining how the role of budgeting in hotels has been affected as a result ofCovid-19. Research Questions: How has the role of the budget in Swedish hotels been affected byCovid-19? What was the role of the budget in the hotel before the pandemic? What role hasthe budget played in the hotel during the pandemic? Which part of the budget now has a moreor less prominent role than before? What are the underlying factors for the changes? Purpose: The initial purpose of this thesis was to, through a selection of hotels, examine howthe role of budgeting has been affected during Covid-19 in Sweden, as well as the underlyingfactors behind the changes. Due to absence of some respondents, a shift in the work processoccurred, to instead specifically examine the Elite Hotels Group, but the examined topic inthe essay remained the same. Method: The method used in this study is a qualitative interview study. The study is basedon secondary as well as primary data. Primary data has been collected from two semistructured interviews with different respondents from the Elite Hotels Group. One of theseinterviews was conducted over Microsoft Teams and the other was conducted over the phone,as personal meetings could not be conducted during Covid-19. Conclusion: Prior to the Covid-19 break out in Sweden, the budget played a central role inElite Hotels management system. They used a fixed annual budget which was supplemented 3by short-term forecasts and similar complements. During the pandemic Elite Hotels budgetlost its applicability, which, apart from a budget-like forecast led them to a completelybudget-free management and a shift in focus towards cost reductions and finding revenueswherever they could. Complements such as forecast and other management tools such asfocus on key figures, comparisons with the competition, communication and a generally moreefficient way of working were given a more prominent role. The underlying factors that madethe budget lose its applicability have mainly been people's behavior during the Covid-19pandemic, which arose as a result of the advice and restrictions issued by the authorities.These constrictions also contributed to major restrictions on the hotels operations as well as asteep fall in demand for guest nights