“I was struck by the work these organizations are doing and while everyone’s priority right now is to stay safer at home, I know there are many of us looking for ways to help.”
– Oprah Winfrey
Surviving during COVID-19 was not easy for the majority of companies, organisations or startup businesses. Staying inside to stop the spread of the virus seemed like a luxury to many employers and labourers. All businesses had to reinvent their business models by allowing employees to work from home, adapting to disruptions in supply chains and more.
But work from home was not possible for many businesses or service areas like restaurants, gyms, factories, café, airports, and labourers, who mostly relied on daily wages of income. A lot of shops, businesses had to shut down as they were unable to pay their employees. Millions of people lost their jobs and are still struggling to get new jobs.
It is tough to predict how long global businesses will recover from the trauma of COVID-19. As per the survey done by Global Business Compass, more than 57% of business leaders around the world believe that economic drag due to covid-19 will last for a year or more even after the delivery of the vaccine.
Angel Gurria, OECD secretary-general, also had a similar opinion on the recovery of global business after such an economic shock. He called the chances for recovering quickly from such an economic crisis as “wishful thinking”. He even mentioned that soon the world’s biggest economics would fall into recession.
He also told BBC “Even if you don’t get a worldwide recession, you’re going to get either no growth or negative growth in many of the economies of the world, including some of the larger ones, and therefore you’re going to get not only low growth this year, but also it’s going to take longer to pick up in the in the future…“
Companies and sub-industries will have different experiences towards economic recovery after the pandemic. But the recovery is expected to have the following patterns:
Mild disruption : Rapid recovery
Although health care centers, technology industries, and consumer services are experiencing disruption, the demand for these services remains largely unchanged. It is expected that their return to normal will happen within a year.
Sharp shock: Slow improvement
There are some sector companies like industries, materials; consumer goods that have faced a massive sock. These areas are expected to take two years to get back to normalcy.
Double Whammy: Long road back
Energy and financial sectors are expected to take a long time to get back to normalcy. Banks have seen increasing provisions for loan losses and face larger negative impacts on operating income REITS, even facing longer time losses as the consumer disruption and business are negatively impacting them.
Business as usual
Digital marketing, telecommunications, utilities, online services from Amazon, essay typer help services, ghost writers, are immune to the impact of pandemic. There is barely any change in the economic conditions of these businesses.
How to Reboot Businesses Post Pandemic?
The coronavirus pandemic has stroked hard on the global economy. President David Malpass from World Bank Group said “Policy choices made today – including greater debt transparency to invite new investment, faster advances in digital connectivity, and a major expansion of cash safety nets for the poor – will help limit the damage and build a stronger recovery.
The financing and building of productive infrastructure are among the hardest-to-solve development challenges in post-pandemic recovery. We need to see measures to speed litigation and the resolution of bankruptcies and reform the costly subsidies, monopolies and protected state-owned enterprises that have slowed development.”
It is indeed tough to stay calm and optimistic when the global economy is in such a poor condition. But staying calm under extreme pressure is a part of the job description for business leaders as well as entrepreneurs. We all know the virus emerged from China, but the country is already showing signs of economic recovery.
We have enlisted some of the effective strategies that will help the global economy to recover from the pandemic:
1. Identify the financial damage
It is essential to update the financial statements like profit or loss that your business has faced. Comparing the number to last year’s number will help you get specific results on how much your business has suffered. Also, consider other ways your business is affected, including laying off employees, if customers migrated toward competitors, and cutting down the budget in marketing and advertising. You will require factoring all these into your rebuilding plan.
2. Embrace new sales channels
The world may go into lockdown, but it will not stop people from wanting things. So you need to think about alternate channels which will serve your market. For example, restaurants can start selling takeaways meals or utilise home delivery apps to continue their businesses. Many B2B companies have gone digital during the pandemic. Instead of in-person sales meetings, consider having conversations on social media platforms.
3. Work on long-term investments
If you see a short term slowdown, consider making longer-term investments. It is important to nurture the leads you were working on prior to the pandemic. Although there are several cancellations of vacations, concert tickets, and airline tickets, businesses are still maintaining services for now. Just put more energy into letting them know that your company is following all the precautions needed to handle the current situation. This way, you will prove the adaptability of the business, and customers will feel a sense of security.
4. Consider the clients
As you adapt to a new business model, you will also consider that customer’s needs may have changed. Earlier, you might have been providing weekends, after-hours calls for businesses, but the customers may need more than that. The client may need someone who can provide accurate information whenever they feel overwhelmed. With this knowledge, you need to change a few ways your business operates to essay help clients.
5. Prepare for increased demand
Due to quarantine worldwide, many businesses chose to cut back their production and supply levels to prevent further financial loss. It might be the right decision from a cost standpoint, but doing it on a higher level can be problematic to meet the increased demand when the situation gets better.
Wrapping up,
The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought financial havoc all around the globe and affected the global economy in unprecedented ways. While nobody can surely give any exact time duration when the global economy will recover from the effects of the pandemic, there are still many ways businesses can recover themselves. It has become necessary for every business to create multiple sales channels to survive in the new age.
