As we adjust to life with the coronavirus around us, our behaviours and habits are quickly changing. What will be the impact of these changes on the organisations and industries around us?<\/p>\n
We broadly see three business categories:<\/p>\n
The third category is the most interesting, as actions they take now will move them into one of the first two categories. Let\u2019s look at each in turn.<\/p>\n
These sectors have found themselves serendipitously on the right side of history. By applying a basic level of competence, they should thrive. The natural strategy for these companies is to aggressively invest in opportunities and growth.<\/p>\n
Ecommerce marketplaces<\/strong><\/p>\n People are moving online to do their shopping. Already, Amazon\u00a0is adding 100,000 new jobs to manage the extra demand. Some other marketplaces are struggling to add capacity.\u00a0Some marketplaces are turning to technology for help. Chinese ecommerce giant JD.com\u00a0is using\u00a0unmanned vehicles to deliver food and medical supplies in Wuhan.<\/p>\n Pharmaceuticals<\/strong><\/p>\n Pharmaceutical companies are inevitably playing a large role in the crisis. Gilead, which owns the rights to treatment drug Remdesivir; Moderna, actively working on a vaccine; Roche, a major supplier of testing kits; and Fujifilm, with existing treatment drug Avigan, are all poised to benefit.<\/p>\n Logistics\/delivery<\/strong><\/p>\n As people around the world are blocked from leaving their homes, products and services will need to be delivered. Cainiao, Alibaba Group\u2019s logistics arm, launched the\u00a0Green Channel initiative\u00a0on January 25 in response to the increased demand for protective clothing and medical supplies, especially for front-line medical staff in Hubei province. In just nine days, Cainiao received more than 7,000 calls and shipped over 5 million medical products to Wuhan and neighbouring cities.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, UK food delivery app Deliveroo has\u00a0launched a\u00a0\u201cno-contact drop-off service\u201d. This provides restaurants with additional packaging and seals for orders to be left on customers\u2019 doorsteps.<\/p>\n Video conferencing<\/strong><\/p>\n Videoconferencing start-up Zoom has benefited massively. The\u00a0company\u2019s sales\u00a0and\u00a0share price\u00a0are already up over 50% in 2020.\u00a0Webex\u00a0from Cisco and\u00a0Skype and Teams\u00a0from Microsoft are also seeing major upticks in sales. Most are offering special deals for their conferencing services during the outbreak.<\/p>\n Entertainment streaming and gaming<\/strong><\/p>\n Platforms like\u00a0Netflix,\u00a0Amazon Prime video, and\u00a0Disney+\u00a0all report increased viewership. Online gaming platforms\u00a0are also experiencing\u00a0record volumes.<\/p>\n For the losers, their managements will need a Herculean effort to pull them through the crisis. Even if they succeed, many will be seriously damaged. The natural strategy in these sectors will be to cut costs, de-risk operations and be ready to return when conditions improve.<\/p>\n Airlines, trains and cruise ships<\/strong><\/p>\n The global airline industry\u00a0has said it will need\u00a0up to US$200 billion (\u00a3171 billion) in emergency support, and Boeing\u00a0has called for\u00a0US$60 billion (\u00a351 billion) in assistance for aerospace manufacturers as the international travel industry bleeds cash. Norwegian\u00a0has already cut\u00a085% of its routes and laid off 90% of its staff. Virgin Atlantic\u00a0intends to park up to 85% of its fleet during the month of April and is asking staff to take up to eight weeks unpaid leave over the next three months to avert job losses. IAG, parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Level and Vueling,\u00a0will cut capacity\u00a0by 75% in April and May, while the Air France-KLM group\u00a0is set to\u00a0cut capacity by between 80% and 90%. Most cruise ship operators\u00a0have ceased\u00a0operations, and bankruptcy is likely for some.<\/p>\n Tourism<\/strong><\/p>\n The US Travel Association\u00a0is projecting\u00a0that close to 5 million travel-related American jobs will be lost. This is more than 25% of the 15.8 million Americans who work in the sector. The situation is equally dire elsewhere. For example,\u00a0all ski resorts\u00a0in Italy, France, Austria and Switzerland are effectively closed for the season.<\/p>\n Oil and gas<\/strong><\/p>\n On January 1, a barrel of crude oil sold for US$67.05 on New York\u2019s NASDAQ exchange. At the time of writing, it was\u00a0trading at\u00a0around US$26 per barrel. So companies\u2019 oil reserves are worth less than half that of the start of the year. The value of giants like BP reflects this \u2013 on March 19, it\u00a0was worth 51% of what it was at the start of January. According to\u00a0the International Energy Agency, global oil demand is set for its first annual drop since 2009. Contrast this with the agency\u2019s\u00a0February prediction, when it expected annual growth of 825,000 barrels per day.<\/p>\n Investment banking<\/strong><\/p>\n Hundreds of London and New York investment bankers are set to lose their jobs amid a slump in deal-making. Shares of leading US banks\u00a0JPMorgan Chase,\u00a0Bank of America\u00a0and\u00a0Citigroup are all down more than 30% from January highs. Financial News\u00a0spoke to senior London investment bankers who predicted a drop in fees of up to 50% in the first six months of 2020. That would mean around\u00a0US$10.7 billion (\u00a39 billion)\u00a0in lost revenues across equity deals \u2013 the worst first half of a year since 2009.<\/p>\n Traditional retail<\/strong><\/p>\n With people confined to their homes, there isn\u2019t much point keeping traditional retail stores open. The largest US mall owner, Simon Property Group,\u00a0announced on\u00a0March 18 that it would close all its malls across the country. Similar decisions have been made across Europe and Asia. Apart from grocers and pharmacies, it will take a long time for traditional retail to recover.<\/p>\n Professional sports and entertainment<\/strong><\/p>\n Italy, Europe\u2019s worst-hit country,\u00a0cancelled all sporting events. France,\u00a0Spain,\u00a0Germany\u00a0and\u00a0the UK\u00a0quickly followed suit. This year\u2019s Copa America and Euro 2020 football tournaments\u00a0have been postponed\u00a0until 2021.<\/p>\n North America\u2019s Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League\u00a0have suspended\u00a0their seasons, and restricted locker room access to players and \u201cessential staff\u201d only. The African Nations Championship 2020 soccer tournament scheduled for April in Cameroon\u00a0has been postponed\u00a0indefinitely. Long cancellations mean major losses for sports channels and the traditional cable TV ecosystem, as live sports has kept millions of viewers from cutting the cord on cable.<\/p>\n Cinemas<\/strong><\/p>\n Analysts\u00a0predict that\u00a0the global film industry is facing a US$5 billion (\u00a34.2 billion) loss from diminished box office revenues and production restrictions. That could grow if more countries force people to remain at home or order public space to close.<\/p>\n These sectors will probably struggle if they continue as is. Many companies will fail, though a few will adapt their business models to take advantage of new and emerging opportunities. In some cases, this will build a solid foundation for continued success.<\/p>\n Banking<\/strong><\/p>\n Most banks will lose money as individuals and businesses struggle to pay back loans. If the world economy enters a recession, which\u00a0seems very likely, the market for financial products will also fall. Banks can, however, generate goodwill with businesses that need assistance, and create relationships with new customers. Several UK incumbents, including Barclays, Santander and RBS,\u00a0are already\u00a0offering emergency loans and overdrafts to at-risk business customers. Many consumers will need temporary solutions, which could yield a spike in demand for small and medium-sized loans.<\/p>\n Healthcare<\/strong><\/p>\n Some players in this sector emerge with new ideas that could improve healthcare. Others will be pushed past breaking point and will never return.Chinese digital firm Baidu is among those that has been quick to innovative. It\u00a0launched a Fight Pneumonia app to help the public get accurate and useful information about the epidemic in real time. It is also offering its online medical advice platform free to users seeking COVID-19 consultations. This has seen over 100,000 doctors across China responding to tens of millions of inquiries. Baidu has also released an intelligent healthcare unit that responds to common questions through a conversational chatbot. This so-called \u201ccall bot\u201d makes automated phone calls to ask people about their recent travels, health condition and contacts.<\/p>\n Manufacturing<\/strong><\/p>\n Many manufacturers will struggle as the goods they produce are no longer in demand, but more agile operators will shift to making different products. For example, Chinese car manufacturer BYD\u00a0has opened up\u00a0production lines for surgical masks and hand sanitisers. It was one of 2,500 Chinese companies to respond to a\u00a0call from President Xi Jinping for a \u201cpeople\u2019s war\u201d against the virus. GM, Ford and Tesla are\u00a0talking about\u00a0producing ventilators. LVMH, the French luxury goods company behind Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy,\u00a0is also shifting\u00a0to produce hand sanitisers, and aims to make 12 tonnes within the first week of production. LVMH is giving the product to French authorities to distribute at hospitals at no charge.<\/p>\n Education<\/strong><\/p>\n Most schools, universities and private education providers have closed their doors, but not necessarily their operations. As more and more people are confined to their homes, there is a golden opportunity for education institutions to expand the scale and scope of their operations online. In China, Kuaishou, a social video platform valued at US$28 billion (\u00a323.5 billion), has\u00a0promoted online education offerings\u00a0to compensate for school and university closures. The company and other video platforms have partnered with the ministry of education to open a national online cloud classroom to serve students.<\/p>\n Source: https:\/\/theconversation.com<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As we adjust to life with the coronavirus around us, our behaviours and habits are quickly changing. What will be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[276,285],"tags":[417],"class_list":{"0":"post-13244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sr-blog-business-development-nl","8":"category-small-business-nl","9":"tag-coronovirus-winners-and-losers-in-the-business-world-nl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sr-management.bg\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sr-management.bg\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sr-management.bg\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sr-management.bg\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sr-management.bg\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sr-management.bg\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sr-management.bg\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sr-management.bg\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sr-management.bg\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sr-management.bg\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The losers<\/h5>\n
The inbetweeners<\/h5>\n