Covid-19 showed us how vulnerable we are. We are affected at all levels of our lives: Healthwise, social and, above all, economical. The economic effects in particular have hit us hard —we were not prepared.
Some companies are little affected, as they serve urgent needs in the crisis, such as Amazon, Netflix or gaming companies. Others are losing business massively because their offer is not in demand during the crisis, e.g. Lufthansa and exhibition providers. The most common reasons we’re seeing are:
- Reliance on a traditional business paradigm
- Lack of innovative (digital) technology
- Broken global value chain
- Change in consumer behaviour and needs
Lockdown hits traditional businesses hard. The traditional business paradigm supports profit, performance, being better and competition. It’s a lonely fight using linear thinking. It’s not driven by purpose, belonging or co-operation which underpin more evolutionary businesses.
There will be no back to normal.
When we restart our economy, it will happen under conditions that did not exist before lockdown. This worldwide experience has changed our behaviour and shifted the values. This value shift will lead to a long lasting renewal. We need the ability to manage the complexity of our world and adapt quickly to new situations. Traditional business models need to be challenged and adjusted to be more resilient and adaptable.
Watch the recording from our Australian Aquent team, as Katja Forbes talks about how businesses have, and will continue to, adapt. She talks about quick feasible solutions for the current situation, approaches for the time directly after the lockdown and strategies to be better prepared for a crisis in the future.