With events, projects & in-person income streams getting wholly dropped, it is no wonder; business leaders are questioning how strong their organization’s foundation is.
As we enter the first quarter of the reporting season & a batch of March economic releases, we have begun to sense an idea of where the baseline for an economy recovery lies. Nonetheless, the contraction might likely carry on for most of the second quarter too; we would have a clear picture of demand destruction, supply interruption and profits impact on businesses.
We believe the whole process would reveal who would be the winners & losers of the new business world. While some sectors & businesses are reaching unexpected heights, others are making new lows.
| “People will discover that they can work and communicate in ways they previously didn’t think possible and will be forced to become more agile with tech through having no choice to do otherwise. I think certain aspects of work and organizing will change for good through the current situation,” said Sally Maitlis, a professor of organizational behavior at Oxford University’s Said Business School. |
We broadly classify businesses into three categories:
- The Winners
The sectors that will achieve high profits.
- The Losers
The sectors that will suffer.
- The In-Betweeners
The sectors can go either way, depending on how they respond to the current scenario.
Although we can’t forecast the future, a recent study conducted by Womply, Fortune & The Washington Post indicates, who would probably emerge out as The Winners, The Losers & The In-Betweeners!
Here’s what they’ve found so far:
The Winners
Reviewing the winner industries amidst Coronavirus Outbreak!
1. Ecommerce
Well, various large-scale online retailers have observed a surge in orders. Since all the consumers are self-isolated or working from home, they are majorly turning to massive distribution and delivery networks to have all the daily essentials right at their doorstep. Over the last couple of weeks, the demand of Walmart & Amazon has risen as much as 25 percent.
2. SAAS
When you go to the office, you require a chair, table, system & whiteboard. When you are working from home, you need video conferencing, online scheduling & cloud storage. The all new Work-From-home culture has completely altered the way employees work as a team together. People have drastically shifted from their workstations to comfy couches & they are recognizing new opportunities in cloud solutions and automation.
3. Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals are performing one of the most significant roles in this crisis. Pharmacy companies like Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Heat Biologics, Vaxart, and more have actively worked to initiate R&D processes to find a vaccine that can prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
4. Logistics & Delivery
Delivery services should see an uptick in business, as people would avoid shopping in person and would be much in favor of online shopping.
5. Video Conferencing
With more and more people working from home following the quarantine rules to limit the virus spread, the demand of technology has increased widely. People are connecting for virtual meetings, group chats, video conferencing & more. Collaborations with Zoom video chat platform have suddenly spiked, eventually their stock value reaching cloud nine.
6. Entertainment
Demand for movies, shows & entertainment content to watch at home has soared to such an extent that Netflix & YouTube have to reduce the quality of streaming in countries like Europe. According to Bloomberg News, the streaming activity has increased to 20 percent all over the world.
The Losers
Reviewing the losers amidst Coronavirus Outbreak!
1. Events
If you are into events & organizing business, it’s very discomforting to realize that you may have no business in the coming time. Since, all the popular events & big meet-ups are already cancelled. Sponsors are actually working towards getting their refund, while venues are simply fighting to keep theirs.
2. Hospitality & Tourism
It’s tough to be in the tourism industry, as it’s one of the main sectors that gets affected by any crisis. Several travel companies like HubAdventure are entirely shut down until the end of this pandemic & for more time. Since travel worldwide has been halted due to restrictions set by different countries, most companies in this space have no expectations to stand up straight for at least four-five months.
3. Transportation
The airline industry has been especially struck by quarantine rules & border closures. The U.K. Airline Flybe has witnessed a significant loss, and eventually, it has crashed into bankruptcy. In a recent interview, The International Air Transport Association expressed that over $200 Billion is required to rescue the global economy. Though wealthy consumers are trying to avoid traveling via Airlines, seeking to distance themselves from unknown travel histories, they are focusing more to travel via private jet charters.
4. Restaurants
Sadly, all your favorite dine-in restaurants are closed. Grocery stores are open for limited hours & due to the fear of pandemic, people would dissuade from visiting these open places & stores. The only winners here are the Food Delivery, Meal Preparation chains, & practically any place where you can buy food online.
5. Traditional Retail
Apart from groceries & pharmacies, all the malls worldwide are closed down. Since people are confined to their homes, even the largest malls and stores have been shut down. And, it would certainly take a long duration for traditional retailers to recover.
The In-Betweeners
Reviewing the in-betweeners amidst Coronavirus Outbreak!
1. Healthcare
Healthcare industry has a mix-bag of opportunities and challenges right now. Where at one hand, elective surgeries which are especially lucrative for doctors are getting postponed, on the other side, Healthcare practiced by telemedicine is seeing a spike. Chinese digital firm, Baidu, has launched an intelligent healthcare unit that responds to common questions via conversation Chabot. It makes automated calls & asks people about their health conditions, recent travels & contacts.
2. Banking
Though most of the banking institutions will lose a lot of money as individuals and businesses will struggle to repay the loans. Moreover, if the world economy enters a recession, which most likely will, the market for financial products would also fail. However, banks still have a chance to collaborate with businesses that are in need & create relationships with new customers to retain in the market. Several U.K. incumbents are already offering emergency loans to at-risk businesses customers. This is not only generating the goodwill but would also lead to a significant spike in demand for small or medium sized-loans.
3. Manufacturing
Several manufacturing units would suffer, as the goods they produce are no longer in demand. But forward thinkers are tackling the scenarios & acting as more agile operators by shifting into products that are more in demand. Learning from the current market, Chinese Car Manufacturer (BYD) has opened up production lines for offering surgical masks & hand sanitizers.
4. Education
Most of the schools, universities and educational institutions have closed their doors but not necessarily their operations. Since more than 1/3 of the population is under lockdown, it’s a golden opportunity for learning institutions to expand their scope of operations digitally. Several education associations are promoting distance learning via platforms like Zoom, to compensate for school and university closures.
If You Are In-Betweeners, It’s Time For You To Take Quintessential Steps Now
Amidst the chaos & all the measures suggested to business leaders, it has become challenging for them to analyze what to do & whatnot. McKinsey suggests business owners focus their time on three main parameters to survive in the market:
1. Stand In Support For Employees
Although several companies have implemented the ‘no-travel and work-from-home’ policies, worldwide. But still challenges are evolving. Employees working remotely tend to face more interruptions than in the office. Remote workers tend to feel less motivated, be it networking or creating routines that drive productivity. They start cultivating thoughts that they are less valuable, which is quite obvious in such a recessionary environment.
In such scenarios, companies need to focus on increasing communication and try balancing the needs of the business along with expectation settings & also morale building. Thus helps employees to realize that they are at the top of the mind.
2. Think & Plan About The Next Horizon Of COVID-19
In such a panic buying environment, it’s super easy to lose the sign of actions that might be needed tomorrow. Business leaders should focus on five horizons: Resolve, Resilience, Return, Reimagination & Reform.
In the Resolving stage, business leaders are required to determine the scope, pace & depth of the action plan to meet both the business & employee’s expectations as one CEO said, “I know what to do. I just need to decide whether those who need to share my resolve to do so actively.”
In such a challenging environment, Resilience is quintessential. Business owners will need to act on broader resilience plans so that most of the population will experience uncertainty & financial stress. The determined leaders should be working on through-cycle decisions to maintain balanced economic and social sustainability.
Once the pandemic gets over, Returning businesses to operational routine can exceptionally be challenging. Meanwhile, business owners should focus on reassigning their entire business system & plan contingent actions, so that they can return to their businesses with effective production, in terms of pace and scale.
Undoubtedly, the crisis wouldn’t only reveal the vulnerabilities but also opportunities that can effectively improve the results & performance. Organizations should reconsider & reimagine the cost system that is ultimately fixed versus variable. Business leaders should be able to realize what is required versus nice to have.
The aftermath of COVID-19 would also give a chance to businesses to learn and analyze the economically induced failures & reform experiments and social innovations. This would undoubtedly help to uplift the economic & social welfare substantially.
3. Evolve The Nerve Center To Plan For The Next Horizon
The pendulum wouldn’t fully swing back after the outbreak. Decoding to the normal work environment would take time. Business leaders should strategize the plan of action in such a way that helps employees to Discover, Decide, Design & Deliver on the lessons learned from past crises.
Final Thoughts
The world seems a lot different today then what it was just 30 days ago. Since the pandemic has profoundly compromised business operations & even day-to-day lives, right now everything seems precarious.
But ultimately, there is Hope. Countries that have been hit earlier are already seeing a return to their normal routine. Forward Thinkers are investing now in SEO & Web Development to return Post-Coronavirus in a stronger, better & agile manner than ever before!
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