Some governments elsewhere have promised companies in their respective countries on financial help and some goodies in recovering from the global pandemics especially the COVID-19 among others that may come. Is this the surest way to rejuvenate such companies?
Government financial support is good for recovery, but I think it is not enough because the scale of the losses is very large
This is one of the better methods. What one notices after the 2008 financial crisis is a financial stimulation for construction and infrastructure. The government starts funding construction projects like relaying roads, building new bridges, etc. What this does (as the economy is interconnected and complex) is that it stimulates every sector. You can use Input-Output models to understand this phenomenon. Why does the government choose construction in particular? 2 reasons:
First, it scores them brownie points. In the next elections they can state that they have built and helped develop the nation. This happened in the Indian elections (2014) where the ruling party (Congress) played its campaign on development and construction.
Second, construction means direct employment of migrant labourers and daily wage labourers. This also means that programs like NREGA in India will flourish. All this would lead to stabizing economy.
The above part has answered the industry target and effect on economy. Now with relation to MSMEs, governments like India have multiple schemes that already protect MSMEs. Most of the MSMEs in India are not IT firms but rather in manufacturing, textiles and the like so the government uses MSMEs for export. Now with regards to countries like USA, it is different. This is mainly due to nature of companies (mainly in service/tertiary sector). Here, innovation plays a big role. These companies need to come up with products or intangible services that can be exported or used within the country. The sheer volume of SMEs in USA means there is competition for protection and gaining clients. Which is why one sees the high number of unemployed Americans - a situation not seen in India. So, government needs to stimulate MSMEs and not the big companies all the time. However, identification of these companies and how much benefit they receive is up to policymakers.