effect of pandemic in business essay

effect of pandemic in business essay

The Impact of the Pandemic on Business: Challenges and Opportunities

1. Introduction to the Global Pandemic

Pandemadianomic analysis helps us to understand the economic impact of pandemics, and provides insights into possible future pandemics and public health responses by focusing on the demand and supply implications of pandemadianomic shocks, including secular and cyclical shifts; and suggests that active labor market policies can enhance a business-led recovery by amelioration, protection, and investment through programs offering income support, job preservation and wage supports, and job connection and creation. GDP declines and costs for social programs are lower, private and public investment is higher, and macroeconomic imbalances are smaller under programs that address labor market symptoms of pandemadianomic disruption. The pandemic-cum-Black Swan event has adjusted the new normal of business to make the world more Black Swan-resilient.

By the end of 2019, the business world was experiencing slow-to-no growth and a creeping fear of recession. The pandemic-cum-Black Swan event was a global shock, arising exogenously from three types of new or resurgent infectious diseases identified in regions around the world. Businesses and supply chains were devastated, and international trade significantly slowed. The pandemic-cum-Black Swan event helped to drive business toward a new normal. Resource recovery has been characterized by roundabouts rather than by fixity, deliberately complicated by monetary and fiscal policies, and alone insufficient to generate a quick and strong recovery of the global economy. Fiscal policies have been designed to support families in the face of serious pandemic hardship, and to aid businesses and to assist governments in providing emergency help.

2. Challenges Faced by Businesses during the Pandemic

Political relations between countries and the sustainability of multimodal supply lines are a further challenge. For some companies, the occurrence of these events, although unexpected, acted as a catalyst and fostered the implementation of projects that proposed to innovate, offer new products and services, or aimed at operational efficiency. Firms from all sectors, representing diverse activities, sizes, and geographical locations, have faced and continue to face challenges of different orders. Given this scenario, we note some positive aspects. Companies have integrated the commercial, productive, and administrative sectors and promoted transformations in processes, business models, customer relations, and internal initiatives. Companies accelerate the process to migrate to digital from health, suppliers, and buyers, review the digital strategy, or make investments in order to guarantee resilience in the supply of parts and products. Small companies doing marketing and using online commerce at great speed are examples of initiatives that some have taken. And so, in a period of crisis, we find an opportunity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a series of unexpected challenges to several sectors of the economy. Many companies face a critical economic environment, and this unprecedented situation has ramifications for their continuity and business strategy. In this context, companies find themselves in a position that can make or break their future. Some are going through a crisis of liquidity; others are using financial aid to survive, and there are those who have already decided to file for bankruptcy. Others face problems with supply lines and demand for their products in view of changes in consumer behavior.

3. Adapting to the New Normal: Strategies for Business Resilience

Whether we realize it or not, the concept of a ‘new normal’ pervades our daily lives. We have welcomed the idea of a ‘virus-shaped hole in our hearts’ because the pain is too great to bear. We seek to fill that pain and normalize our daily existence. Business leaders are at the forefront of change. To be successful, they need to empathize with the emotional, psychological, physical, and social needs of employees who must find a work-home balance, physically distanced and cloistered within the four walls. At the same time, we need to create the conditions required for business to thrive and be resilient. The world craves a future that returns to relative normality.

To many business leaders, this state of play feels like ‘the new normal’. Employees are coming to terms with ‘virtual commuting’, conducting all business, including job interviews, via video conferencing and expanding their online multitasking skills exponentially. There is suddenly more time for family and space to reconnect with those we love. Daily business meetings for the leadership team continue, but are held remotely and involve navigating the quirks and fragilities of home-based technology. However, compatibility and stability are at odds with the expansive ambitions and desires for success that business leaders hold dear.

In global crises, business leaders the world over have felt the pressure to respond. Leadership teams face a myriad of challenges and disruptions. Action is required to ensure that businesses survive these stressful economic times, while protecting employees and serving customers at the highest level – in service industries, food provision, and healthcare. What is clear is that this highly pressured situation is not a one-time occurrence or a singular disturbance that punctuates an otherwise stable background. It is a central feature of the ambient context.

4. Innovations and Opportunities Arising from the Pandemic

The requirements of self-vulnerability in the infrastructure of providers of information services will stimulate the development of resource-related sectors: replacement materials for critical elements of artificial intelligence, spare parts for production or network equipment, etc. Protectionism will gain strength here, especially from rising political threats. Pooling resources for backups, including new materials for Murmansk, means that relevant goods increasingly share the concept of national security, and therefore can attract taxpayers’ money in the form of subsidies or oriented procurement. Infrastructural elements in the field of the information economy will have less mobility, at the expense of the potential emergence of a certain benefit of the first holder, especially since transformations are socially painful to a lesser extent than physical suspended investments.

The quarantine and the temporary transfer of functions largely worked for companies that were previously familiar with the model, and this is a fairly large share of Russian technological online and tutoring companies. So, customers are adding to the list of universal service requirements backup functions, especially those that are exposed to their global business risks. Following these considerations, information services may be the first priority for building reserves. In an uncertain future, many companies continue to access and analyze data about customers and markets, and the standby model will have to be included as part of these processes.

5. Conclusion: Lessons Learned and Future Outlook

As we prepare ourselves for a world beyond the pandemic, it is also pertinent to reiterate the lessons learned as we look towards a futuristic financial model. It is only a matter of time before self-reliance and reliance on local supply chain infrastructures become a business priority in the atmosphere of decoupling, and make or buy would once again become a leadership prerogative. The living through of both the Spanish Flu and the current pandemic provides us with a self-check mechanism on our unique style of leadership, aptitude to make swift decisions, and our risk appetite. Leaders of today cannot run businesses solely for self-serving motives. Embracing the change, building robust IT infrastructure, building back financial strength, maintaining local manufacturing base, total quality management, ensuring robust supply chain, the ability to scale up when the demand picks up, leadership driven by purpose and not on selfish motives, and preparing for more black swans are the words of wisdom. Only those that have the vision and belief to prepare the framework for economic sustenance and sound governance will run the race for built to last.

The Covid-19 pandemic serves as a poignant reminder not to take anything for granted, including the ability to travel, the freedom to socialize, and more importantly for us, the license to conduct business in a growth-oriented, progressive manner. The knock-on effect of the pandemic has been a profound reminder that for business and individuals alike, the best-laid succession plans cannot account for the proverbial curve ball. It is essential for companies to understand that reinvention and diversification across verticals is now a requisite, not an option. Companies that espoused a multi-vertical model have fared well during these turbulent economic times.