Overcoming Your Business Challenges as CEOs in Post Corona Economy

CEOs and their Business Challenges

What will you find in this Article

=Challenges for the CEOs and Failing Businesses and overcoming them post corona-covid19 world. Page 1

=Few of the challenges that the CEOs and the businesses would face. Page 3

= Few Scenarios as a CEO you may face — that can shake and shock the economy and businesses Page 4 to Page 6

=39 Ways CEOs can use to bounce back. Page 7

Challenges for the CEOs and Failing Businesses and overcoming them post corona-covid19 world — What to do when you lose your business.

The statement that reopening and restarting your business in post corona-covid19 world — “is not going to be easy” is a very mild understatement.

That is why — as per the news — USA president Donald Trump has chosen 200 of the global-top business-leaders in his economy-revival think-tank team.

Many of the CEOs would be looking at the future without having any clue — as to what should be their action-plan, game-plan, strategic-plan, vision and so on.

{For next few months at least} — we may witness — if hotels open up[very few guests], if airlines start[very few passengers], car-showrooms abysmally low sales, shopping-malls low foot-falls or very-poor sales — many-many similar stories in most of the non-essential products and services.

If manufacturing starts — raw-material may not be available AND if they get produced — it may be difficult to sell.

Consumptions of goods and services are going to shrink to unthinkable level — excepting for the bare-necessities and essential items.

As a result of all these and more — Money in circulation [in the various value-chain] will either dry-up or just trickle — and may not revive for a very long time.

Now whether the governments in the poor countries and third world economies would have enough resources to stimulate the economy — highly unlikely.

For many of the CEOs [barring some really extraordinary great-leaders] — challenges to their businesses and industries will be multifaceted and so much VUCA [Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous] and disruption-prone — that — many won’t know what to do.

So far what was considered normal and taken for granted in the business-world [till even 6 months back] — has turned into totally ambiguous, uncertain, disruptive, complicated, complex, chaotic and muddied situation.

Almost all our past references would be of no use to us technically.

In this article I have tried to analyze — through few probable scenarios keeping focus mainly on India to give you ideas of what lies ahead AND what can be done about it — on a purely ideas-triggering catalyst.

I have also tried to list few action-steps on a broad-generalized way — again to make you think plus for you to evolve these further through involving your teams, partners and mentors.

This should give you a strong foothold — in this totally unprecedented catastrophe of human misery.

Few of the challenges that the CEOs and the businesses would face

• 1.All of us would be facing the task of taking gut-wrenching UNAVOIDABLE tough decisions — we only get to choose among them, the least unpalatable ones
• 2.If we don’t take charge of our situation and start taking the tough-decisions and even tougher actions — we would be actually expediting the speed of our downfall
• 3.Few common phenomenon — that all the chief-stakeholders will have to grapple with
• I.How many employees to retain — whom to let go
• II.Which jobs to be made redundant
• III.Because the demands and economic-recovery will happen in waves — the need to bring back employees also would be accordingly
• IV.How much bench-strength should be maintained
• V.To go for pay-cut and what percentage
• VI.How long can you go on paying your employees if economy does not bounce back OR your sales do not reach a break-even level
• 4.Figuring out if the supply chain relevant to your industry-business is functioning — as you might be ready to restart but in case of absence of even one crucial link, your plans may get hampered
• 5.Finding out how to get the money which others owe your organization
• 6. Figuring out if the pending work-orders are still good
• 7.In case you are unable to pay your creditors — finding ways to delay paying them [now this is complete paradox to the point 5 AND has the most adverse-ramification on the money in circulation]
• 8.Determining customer demand
• 9.Creating a sanitized work space
• 10.Reviewing the status of your suppliers and analysing whether you can get all the raw materials needed
• 11. To identify how you can generate revenue immediately
• 12. To understand what would be the scale of demand for your range of products and services
• 13. To identify and understand what new buying-habits and purchase-behavior — your consumer/customer will have
• 14. To identify — whether your existing customer-value-proposition is good enough with all the changes taking place in the market
• 15. To Create new and more attractive client-value-proposition as well as employee-value-proposition
• 16. Re-work on costing — as all the new measures would make everything highly expensive
• 17. To see if it still makes sense to do business or should you close-down your business either temporarily or for good
• 18. If you are in manufacturing — especially in the luxury, lifestyle and non-essential products
• I.Should you start production
• II.Can you get the raw material in adequate quantities and on time
• III.Could you pay your vendors
• IV.What should be the production level
• V.Will you be able you sell what you manufacture
• VI.Would you get back your money

The scenarios which as a CEO you have to face

These would directly or indirectly affect your business and future strategies in big-way and in big-time. This is as per the Current State of Indian Economy

Scenario 1 => For essential items

• 1.A labor and daily-wage-earner — who is not getting any money yet has to feed himself and his family plus pay all the bills and bear the medical charges at the least. Can he get all these on pay-later-basis from local vendors? Not very likely.
• 2.Let us assume he does manage to get all the essentials on loan from the local grocer — now this grocer has to buy his supplies — and if he does not get money how will he pay the dealer and his employees. Now can the dealer give credit to the grocer — highly unlikely. If the dealer does not get money — how will he lift goods from the wholesalers who would have even bigger liability.
• 3.If wholesalers can’t lift from manufacturers — can manufacturer run their production and pay their employees/ pay the raw material vendors etc. etc.
• 4.How these manufactures are going to get bailed-out — by governments? — the governments are into big deficits themselves — and with India already into an economic recession even before corona-covid19 started.

Scenario 2 => Non-essential items

• 1.How many of the people from the segment who are the major consumers — are likely to run to buy Cars, go for their white-goods replacements, go for new wardrobe, travel for vacations, just buy all those things which are show-off and aesthetic and decorative nature?
• 2.Yes few people may do that — but their percentage is not likely to be that large to boost this sector
• 3.The points 2,3 and 4 of scenario 1 will happen in this scenario too
• 4.So will new start-ups happen — yes they will — will they survive is a big question-mark
• 5.What will happen to all the large and small manufacturing-units depending on all these — can they survive — especially the MSME and smaller one, because they have even less resources

Scenario 3 => Real-estate, roads and infrastructure — this being a significant economy stimulus

• 1.Consider how many service industries like IT, ITEs and similar organizations — are actively considering limiting the number of employees coming to work to their offices — after they discovered the cost-saving and less-hassle taste of work from home [WFM]
• 2.If this happens the need for space would become lesser and lesser — can construction start with a big-bang — does not seem likely
• 3.The points 2,3 and 4 of scenario 1 will apply to this scenario too
• 4.ADDITIONALLY point 5 from scenario 2 also will happen here
• 5.The major industries linked with constructions — like steel, cement and others get impacted directly and adversely

Scenario 4 — the businesses that depends — solely on foreign countries orders

• 1.All the major consumer of these services and products are also seeing similar situation happening in their own countries
• 2.How many would think of expanding or even maintaining the same levels of consumptions — as a result these software, IT, ITES companies would have much less orders and hence much less need for manpower
• 3.In addition to that they would be on the cost-cutting spree so as to get the better of competition — which would be ruthless — so they will go for WFM and assignment to assignment hiring
• 4.The points 2,3 and 4 of scenario 1 will apply to this scenario too
• 5.ADDITIONALLY point 5 from scenario 2 also will happen

Scenario 5 — let us take a sector which are very closely connected and interdependent with each other — Hotels, Airlines, Travel, Tourism and Local-Transport [bus, cabs etc.]

• 1.Keeping the economic-slowdown in mind and the scare of corona-covid19 -How many will travel to exotic locations, stay in resorts and hotels OR travel for leisure and pleasure — this is a sector which is going to be very-very hard hit
• 2.Even business travel — keeping the plan in mind that the airlines are going to charge from one passenger the cost of three seats to maintain the social-distancing — how many corporates are going to sanction travel like earlier
• 3.The points 2,3 and 4 of scenario 1 will apply to this scenario too
• 4.Many people who started OLA, Uber type of self-sustaining businesses and cab-operators would find it hard to survive
• 5.ADDITIONALLY point 5 from scenario 2 also will happen here

Scenario 7 — the lackluster festivals — in India few festivals too boost economy for few sectors

• 1.Now because the industry and businesses are fighting for survival or getting closed-down — they can’t be expected to spend any money for these
• 2.Additionally the exceptionally-large numbers of the out-of-work people — won’t be able to go for any celebration whatsoever
• 3.Now such a large mass of consumer not having any savings, no income and no hope of its revival soon — what is your guess
• 4.Will they spending on anything that they don’t need — well they may not even have money for their survival
• 5.So what can we expect — riots, spurts in petty-crimes, mob-looting and mob-violence
• 6.Then when the lock-down is opened up big chunk of at least 50–60% population will get infected AND the purpose of lock-down completely defeated [ the virus which was lurking and not eradicated ]– in absence of the impossible-to-maintain social-distancing and other safety protocols
• 7.This will put severe pressure on already pressurised medical-facilities, doctors, paramedics AND the other over-stretched resources
• As a result the economy will take further hit and slide southwards.
• Unless — AND it is BIG IF — India can manage to become “professional and visionary” at the political level and is able to capture all those businesses looking to relocate out of China — then the scenario would become better within 2–3 years from the time these investments and FDI inflows starts

39 Ways CEOs can use to bounce back — for full read “CEOs Business Challenges Today” in Success Unlimited Mantra’s Blog section “from the heart of Subhashis”