Why complacency over one coronavirus symptom could spell ruin for businesses

Why complacency over one coronavirus symptom could spell ruin for businesses

“To know your enemy, you must become your enemy.” If you're after advice in 2020 then you could do worse than listen to Sun Tzu, the Chinese general, military strategist and philosopher who wrote The Art of War centuries upon centuries ago.

But who is the enemy today? One definition of the word is “something harmful or deadly” and so naturally coronavirus could be considered the chief protagonist this year.

The damage caused to the business world by the pandemic continues to be all too clear,. Just look back at my homeland, the UK, which is facing an unprecedented 11 percent contraction in its economy.

And while it's worth a moment here to take a breath and recognise how fortunate we in this part of the world that strong early action led to marketplaces and trade reopening sooner, this is a pandemic that has hidden, long-tail symptoms. For many businesses, one particular side effect of Covid-19, the enemy, could either be the disastrous or incredible for their fortunes, depending on the response.

We've seen from the US what happens when one ignores the signs, individuals faced a choice, wear a mask, social distance, or not. The consequence of action on inaction have been potentially