“The future is not what it used to be: Thoughts on the shape of next

normal”

By Mckinsey & Company

Introduction
The purpose of this article is to review how business leaders can deal with
ongoing coronavirus crisis and plan for the next normal. Coronavirus is a world-
changing event. Its spread has left businesses around the world counting costs
and wondering what recovery could look like. Many people have lost their jobs or
seen their incomes cut due to the coronavirus crisis. Unemployment rates have
increased across major economies as a result. The travel industry has been badly
damaged, with airlines cutting flights and customers cancelling business trips and
holidays. Many countries introduced travel restrictions to try to contain the virus.
Business leaders are having tough time to deal with current pandemic.

Dealing with the coronavirus crisis

The dramatic spread of coronavirus has disrupted lives, livelihoods, communities
and businesses worldwide. It is impossible to know about the future and what
will be the situation after pandemic comes to an end. That’s why it becomes
necessary to deal with coronavirus crisis and find the next normal thing in
business. Business around the world are coming together and innovating to
minimize the impact on public health and to limit disruptions to economies and
supply chains. As coronavirus is affecting workplaces around the world, employers
need to adjust to this new situation and develop a strategy to prevent damages
coronavirus can bring. When we say damages, we mean both the safety and the
productivity of entire workforce. It is possible to consider lessons of the past, both
distant and recent, and on that basis, to think constructively about the future.
There are different elements that can help to deal with current crisis and find the
shape for next normal.
We believe following elements will be important in shaping of the next normal
and the business leaders will need to come to terms with them. The elements are
distance is back, resilience and efficiency, the rise of the contact-free economy,
more government intervention in the economy, more scrutiny for business,
changing industry structures, consumer behavior, market positions and sector
attractiveness, finding the silver linings.
Businesses will also need to adopt three changes to post coronavirus which are
digital commerce, telemedicine and automation. In terms of e-commerce, the
pandemic has accelerated a change in shopping habits that was already well
established. The figures for telemedicine are just as striking. As for automation, the
robots were coming well before COVID-19.

Conclusion
The article describes the importance of dealing with coronavirus issues in order to
handle the business matter and shape for next normal. Coronavirus has
dramatically impacted the different aspects of business all over the world. To deal
with such crisis certain elements are suggested for business leaders. Government
can have a big role in maintaining business order in such difficult times. The
findings of the study suggest that adopting to the three-particular area; digital
commerce, telemedicine and automation could prove to be decisive turning point
for shaping next normal in business.

Reference
McKinsey & company (2020) The future is not what it used to be: Thoughts on the
shape of the next normal.