The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a world-changing event. For many business executives, the toughest leadership test is how to deal with the coronavirus crisis and its aftermath.

For business leaders across the Philippines, the actions they take now and in the weeks ahead — especially as quarantines are modified or loosened — will define them and their companies. “Even if the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic varies across industry sectors and regions, it is no exaggeration to recognize that the struggle is real,” said Marivic Españo, chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of P&A Grant Thornton.

CEOs working urgently to balance dozens of critical priorities each day are starting to focus on two leading questions: “How can we navigate through the crisis to emerge stronger than others in our industry?” and “How can we learn through this experience to win in a new world?”

As economic life appears to stabilize, organizations need to be ready with the right strategy to outperform their industry peers. Companies that adopt more quickly to the initial transition — and, eventually, to the new environment — will emerge stronger.

However, this recovery will be different. Factors such as how widely different markets bounce back or whether people are forced back into quarantine with subsequent outbreaks of COVID-19 complicate the picture. Knowing what will happen next is impossible. However, it is possible to consider the lessons of the distant and recent past when thinking about the future.

The following elements will be essential in shaping the new norm — and business leaders will need to come to terms with them: workforce, capital and resources, operational model, and supply chain.

Workforce

During these uncertain times, businesses must assess their plans and realign their activities to adapt to the new rules prescribed by the government. “Businesses must be willing to try new practices, switch to better tools, and update action plans for the short, medium, and long terms,” said Ms. Españo. “Updated processes will help businesses adapt to a changing market and set them on track to a brighter future,” she added.

Capital and resources

Pre-COVID-19, cash budgets were calculated monthly. Since the coronavirus crisis, however, organizations have been reviewing their cash assets as often as weekly. How do you budget your organization’s cash during such times? First, project your accounts receivable realistically and review other cash sources. Next, list down all your expenses and other cash outflows. Finally, analyze your accounts payable to suppliers, taxes, and payroll from the previous period.

Operational model

Rethink your operational model and allow the business to adapt. In the long term, think about implementing process automation and integrating technology into operations. When reviewing business activities, consider the shift to Industrial Revolution 4.0 or digital transformation. “Set new business goals with such changes in mind, make informed decisions, and take advantage of every opportunity. Dare to innovate,” said Ms. Españo.

Supply chain

When a crisis such as COVID-19 hits, organizations need to reinforce their supply chain to continue meeting customer and client demand. Securing your supply chains is paramount. It is done by assessing the situation quickly and then moving forward with an action plan aimed at preventing problems and implementing solutions. Monitor inventory levels as well by establishing critical inventory thresholds and building stockpiles, as needed. Likewise, strengthen relationships with customers by finding alternative shipping methods, adjusting delivery schedules, and being transparent about your challenges. Lastly, cement supplier relationships by controlling your cash flow and negotiating payment terms.

The uncertainty that is this far-reaching makes it challenging to control the challenges at hand, let alone in the years ahead. It is imperative to reconstruct for the future and not solve the problems of the past.

Companies have begun to consider their return to health. For most, the pre-pandemic business as usual won’t be nearly enough. To move beyond survival mode, organizations need to think beyond their defaults, reimagining how they recover, operate, organize, and use technology, setting the foundations for sustainable success. In a twist of irony, a crisis like this coronavirus pandemic brings new opportunities and should be a trigger to explore new directions.

By Karen V. De Asis
Chief Brand Strategist, MKS Marketing Consulting

Social media and viber groups are awash with business scenarios triggered by paranoia and propagated by opinion makers, futurists, and trend watchers working mostly on historical data surrounding previous pandemics, among them are the Spanish flu, the cholera, the bubonic plague, etc.

The post-COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) predictions are nearly homogenous, rallying a battle cry of a new normal. The new world order is almost purely reliant on the Internet of things and artificial intelligence; technology enabled supply chains and delivery at your doorstep; work from home; online banking; a national identity card; and digital currency.

Deluged by all these, not to mention, counsel from celebrated and cult-like opinion makers, many businessmen are in frenzied behavior seeking stimulus and ready for blood-letting, forgetting that this pandemic – like any other crisis faced by a long-time businessman – will come to pass because there is the consumer, the ultimate reason why businesses survive or die.

Not to forget, the Philippines’ percentage of private consumption to GDP (gross domestic product) is 73.8%, way beyond the global average of 63.64%. Filipinos have always been known to be bullish consumer spenders globally.

A study mounted by MKS Marketing Consulting, a brand and media consulting agency, describes the shopping and buying sentiment of Filipinos in a post-ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) scenario. MKS, a long-time member of MORES, a premier association of professional market researchers, harvested data from a random sampled survey between April 10 to 30 among 336 respondents belonging to multiple-generations and eco-class in NCR, Central and South Luzon. The data sample has a minimal five percent margin of error and 95 percent confidence. The following are some of the insights gathered:

 Filipino consumers during lockdown resort to online streaming and video access, watching news, doing household chores, praying and online mass as well as watching regular TV or cable.

Topping the Filipino consumers’ activities while locked down include online TV/streaming and online video access, i.e. Netflix, youtube, kissasian, viu, iflix (78.5%), followed by use of broadcast media to listen and watching news (73.90%); doing household chores like cleaning and washing dishes (72.70%); praying, meditating and listening to online mass (67%); and watching regular television or cable (66.7%). Other activities include working from home (59.70%); posting in social media and viber (59.10%); exercising at home (56.70%); cooking or baking (50%); eating multiple times (47.60%); doing out-of-home shopping (45.50%); listening to spotify (39.70%); and hanging out with friends online (38.70%).  Trailing behind is online shopping and food delivery (35.80%); feeding and taking care of pets (30%); sleeping extensively for more than eight hours (27.30%); online education (23.90%); engaging in casual mobile gaming (20.90%); listening to radio music (19.40%); reading extensively including online press (18.50%); doing gardening (15.5%); doing arts and crafts (14.5%); jog or walk out of home (11.80%); engaging in multiplayer online gaming (7.9%); and nursing a relative at home (2.4%).

 Going to church tops the activity most Filipino consumers will do once lockdown is lifted.

 Church and faithful services (80%), going to work (71.20%), eating at a favorite restaurant (63.60%), going to a hair salon (61.20%), paying bills (58.20%), going to the mall (56.10%), and going to a bank (50%) are among the activities Filipino consumers will actively engage in within the first two weeks from lifting of the ECQ.

Consumers will most likely to return to their normal activities one day to two weeks after ECQ lifting.

 Nearly 30% of Filipino consumers are likely to go back to their normal activities a day after the ECQ is lifted while 28% should resume their activities one week after. Another 18% are taking things more slowly and should resume normal activities two weeks later. Still, some are more cautious and will resume normal activities only after three months, soon as vaccine has been developed or when public transport is more regular and normal.

Spa, healthy food, appliances and eyewear/eye care essentials are among the categories likely to be consumed within two weeks after lifting of ECQ lockdown.

 Basic necessities, personal hygiene, and pharmaceutical products remain to be the top three categories to be heavily consumed even after lifting of ECQ. However, two weeks upon lifting, spa and massage services come on top along with organic and healthy food, fitness supplements, hair care essentials, home appliances, petroleum, travel, eye care essentials, cosmetics. Automobiles are far down the list of categories to be patronized along with pest and infection control services, cigarettes and nutraceuticals.

 Products and services that invested in branding pre-COVID days were actually the same brands remembered during post-ECQ days.

 Products and services that made investments in branding through the years were likewise the most recalled in their categories and likely to be patronized post ECQ. Among these are Green Cross rubbing alcohol (rubbing alcohol and dinfectant); EO-Executive Optical (optical store); Nescafe and Kopiko (instant coffee); Monterey (fresh meat); Mac and Maybelline (cosmetics); Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic, Carrier, Everest (major home appliances); and Sky Flakes (biscuit), among others. 

Why do strong brands pre-COVID came out stronger post ECQ and are more resilient?

Post ECQ, consumers are willing to pay premium for their top of mind brand. Strong brands are stamped with the guarantee of their familiar, memorable name, brand equity message and product quality.

Business owners must not forget that businesses and their products and services exist for consumers. A product or service must be a brand with strong brand equity to remain in the memory of consumers post ECQ. Ironically, a strong brand must have been built pre-covid period. In a post ECQ world, a simple name recall or a pure media flooding noise strategy or celebrity endorsements may likely not work. Only 10% potential viewers are receptive to celebrity endorsement themes post-COVID.

Consumers, more than ever, will resort to brands they have tried, tested and are engaged to because of consumers’ economic pressure, tightened money belts and to some a desire to feel good mental state after a personal disruption and crisis. 

When there is a limited source of income and money, consumers are likely to keep money close to their chest and will not experiment on untried and new non-essential products and services. The same with wealthier buyers who desire to feel good and may opt to buy higher priced options across the product range of their favored brand.

E-commerce and the digital economy powered by logistics and supply chain will become a stronger distribution option in the post ECQ pandemic world as new and existing consumers became savvier in its usage during lockdown.

However, consumers resort to this option for familiar, regularly used brands; and mainly essential and commodity items like fresh meat and produce, commodity pantry supplies, etc. Still, when using the website or social media, there must be familiarity with the brand or in its absence, good customer reviews.

Post ECQ, trying products and services for experimentation will be on a downtrend as money becomes tight, consumers are cautious and there remains an air of uncertainty.

Pre-COVID or post-ECQ pandemic, the correct way of branding products and services remain an important business strategy and must be sustained. Pulling in consumers to fuel business and branding, pandemic or not, almost always has strong leadership, often owners themselves, behind brands. These leaders do not cave in when faced with competitive, economic, pandemic and all sorts of threats; rise above challenges, are quick to decision making, and recognize opportunities everywhere. Business owners must realize that the survival of their brand and business is dependent on the consumer alone.

The author is the chief brand strategist of MKS Marketing Consulting and is an alumna of Oxford University’s SAID Graduate School of Business Strategic Leadership Executive Education and Stanford Graduate School of Business Strategic Marketing Executive Education. Ms. De Asis is also an alumna of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business and a PhD graduate of the De La Salle Graduate School, Taft Campus. Reach the author who is also a member of the Global Strategic Consulting Network at karendeasis42@yahoo.com.

Bangkok (ESCAP news) – The 7^th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) concluded on May 20 with a resounding call for countries to revive international cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnerships in tackling the huge socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which threaten to reverse hard-won development gains in the region.

More than 730 delegates representing governments, civil society, businesses and international organizations at the Forum hosted virtually by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) also expressed concerns on the limited progress made towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and underscored the need for transformative accelerated action by all stakeholders to meet the targets by 2030.

COVID-19 is already raking high tolls on the region. Most economies experienced contractions during the first four months of 2020 and millions of people are projected to fall into extreme poverty this year. The disruption to food systems and reduced access to healthcare and education systems will also have profound effects on the most vulnerable communities and people in the region.

“We have reached a point of great risks and opportunities for this world. If we are to tackle the fragilities this crisis has exposed, then our recovery must break with the past. It must pursue equality, inclusion, sustainability and transformation. It must bring the fundamental calling of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to life,” said United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed in her opening remarks.

She called on governments to put resilience and sustainability at the core of recovery investment packages as well as reorient economic models to generate green jobs and invest in chronically underfunded public services such as social protection and healthcare.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana urged countries to turn challenges arising from the global health crisis into opportunities by leveraging innovation to advance technology-based solutions.

“Protecting people’s well-being must be at the core of policy responses. By ensuring a readiness on the part of institutions, policymaking must be able to manage trade-offs and complexity in responding to future crises to safeguard sustainable development gains,” added Ms. Alisjahbana.

“Science, technology and innovation has been vital in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing complex environmental issues. The time is right for ESCAP member States to consider a digital revolution by enhancing scientific collaboration in our region,” shared H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thailand.

He added, “However, bringing about a digital revolution also requires us to bridge the digital divide. Accelerating implementation of the SDGs through technology must begin by giving ordinary people the tools to do so.”

Chair of the 7^th APFSD, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to ESCAP H.E. Samantha K. Jayasuriya underscored the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships moving forward: “To achieve the 2030 Agenda and to deliver on the global Decade of Action, we need a strong, and well-coordinated response, both at country level, including with all institutions and all members of society, as well as from the multilateral cooperation framework.”

Civil society representative Deki Yangzom of Y-PEER Bhutan further highlighted the need to address systemic barriers that impact the acceleration of the SDGs: “We urge governments and the UN to include the civil society as part of policy decision processes. We want our voices to be heard because we are not only the future – we are the now.”

Delegates at the APFSD this year reviewed six key transformative entry points to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. They are: (1) human well-being and capabilities; (2) sustainable and just economies; (3) food systems and nutrition patterns; (4) enhancing power grid connectivity to achieve affordable and clean energy for all; (5) urban and peri-urban development; and (6) global environmental commons.

On the sidelines, ESCAP, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) jointly launched the latest edition of the Asia-Pacific SDG Partnership Report – Fast-Tracking the Sustainable Development Goals: Driving Asia-Pacific Transformations. The report highlights strategies to accelerate transformation and helps countries compare their speed of progress with others. It calls for clear direction, removing systemic barriers, investing in institutional and public readiness to change, and upgrading policymaking approaches to manage increasingly complex development challenges.

One of the report’s key findings is that higher income is not a silver bullet to address the challenges posed by SDGs and achieve accelerated progress along transformative pathways. Low-income and lower middle-income countries emerged as some of the fastest-moving countries in the region.

Since 2014, the APFSD has provided a unique annual platform for countries in Asia and the Pacific to share perspectives, challenges and best practices as they progress toward implementing the SDGs. Outcomes from APFSD will provide input into the global discussions held at the HLPF in July this year.

The full Asia-Pacific SDG Partnership report can be accessed at: http://bit.ly/SDGPartnersAP. For more information on the 7^th APFSD: https://www.unescap.org/apfsd/7/