Corona aftermath – Prepare for the bigger battle ahead

June 15, 2020 by Bsaeed

This is now no news that Corona is proving to be deadlier than most people thought. It has spread, and is still spreading, to more countries, affecting more people, of all age groups, of all genders, of all financial strengths and of all professions. Yes, the proportions of affected groups are different depending on the level of awareness, resources availability and level of exposure based on type of work everyone does. But now we know that though it has some likes and dislikes, Corona does not discriminate based on religion, colour of skin, gender, age, language and/or financial position.

We also now know that Corona is not only cannibal, it also eats or disturbs jobs, businesses, finances, industries, agriculture and almost everything that is the basis of modern economic and social lifestyle. We are seeing that people are losing jobs, mortgage and loan payments are defaulting, hospitals are running on war footing, education industry is confused, smaller businesses are getting wiped out, medium size business are struggling to float, corporations are downsizing and re-strategizing, airlines are closing, hotel rooms are running vacant,. Except few essential goods and service industries almost everything is under threat.

Please be aware that the more is still to come. Corona is just the beginning of the ordeal; it is just the tip of the iceberg. It is smaller of the two battles. Even after the cure for Corona is found, bigger battle is the economic one which is just starting. Each day passing governments are depleting their stockpiles of funds to supports masses, joblessness is increasing, people are getting more tired, stressed out and frustrated. And mind you, it is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.

Laakin (however), we are NOT helpless, we can, and will, fight back. Yes, it will be tough but so are Pakistanis and with the right leadership, that we have now, make no mistakes, we will come back and we will come back stronger.

But nothing happens itself, the nation needs to plan and take sincere and consistent actions to implement that plan. History tells us that bigger events like corona change, or impact in a big way, almost everything; demographics, lifestyle, social values and structure, how business are run and done, what products and services are used etc. etc. Nations and/or individuals that embrace the change and adopt to the new realities come back stronger. Post world wars western nations are examples. Migrations or immigrations are examples. Corona is also a history changing event. We must critically re-visit what we have been doing so far, what are expected to be new realities, what may or may not work in future, define a practical course of action and work for it with a completely new mindset.

Generally, it is slow time, not much business, economic, educational or otherwise activities are happening, and everyone has tons of time at their hands. Instead of just watching TV, using social media and/or getting ourselves drowning in the information overload, lets use this time to evaluate the situation, identifying potential opportunities and threats, plan and prepare ourselves and our businesses to fight back with the aftermath of Corona. Not one formula or template can be recommended nor would that work for everyone or each business, but a course of action can be identified.

Each individual and business themselves objectively and critically revisit their situation and/or circumstances and define specific approaches and strategies that may work for them and start preparing to fight back. To start they should ask themselves/their teams questions, such as following, to assess the situation and challenges ahead:

Is there a possibility that the products and/or services I/we offer may not be needed in future?
Do I/we need to make some modifications/improvement sin our products/services to keep them relevant or make them attractive?
Are my products/services prepared or can they sustain the increased competition and challenges?
Is there anything I can do to diversify my products, services, markets and work force?
Am I/my business prepared to adopt strategies used by successful businesses during corona pandemic?

Based on the answers to above questions individuals/businesses should then come up with strategies/actions such as:

Strategy: Acknowledge the reality and challenge and start thinking