How is the company reacting to the pandemic? What situation has arisen and what will change in the management rules? These and many other questions are answered in the essay by Giorgio Pellicelli entitled "The company in the face of the Covid-19 recession", published by McGraw-Hill. The publication is divided into two parts: the first examines the situation created by the pandemic. Remember that the Covid-19 recession was sudden, caused by the inevitable decisions of governments to curb the spread of infections. It hit people, social and productive activities hard. It is different from previous recessions and so is the response from governments. Never have they made so much debt to protect people and national economies.
The second part aims to answer the questions that many people and company management ask themselves. What changes in the traditional rules of management? What experiences can we draw from previous recessions? The post-Covid-19 economy requires companies to make strategic choices and operational management tools that are partly different from those we used in the previous period. The response of governments, including ours, was "hibernate" part of the economy (deferring the tax levy, blocking layoffs, giving subsidies, injecting liquidity). In 2021, the Italian GDP will grow by more than 6% but the problem is understanding whether the growth can last and how long.
But upon exiting "hibernation" companies find that the pandemic has accelerated change and that the course of the economy is no longer what it was before. Two simple examples are the strong growth of online purchases (which has become a new habit for many) which will continue to penalize "physical" stores and the development of robotics in the workplace which has been driven by the need to reduce contacts between people but which it will come back with negative effects on employment.
Giorgio Pellicelli, a graduate of Bocconi University and ITP Harvard Business School, is Professor Emeritus of the University of Turin. He has served on the Boards of Directors of Fiat, Fiat France, La Rinascente and Saipo-L'Oreal. He is the author of various publications including International Marketing, International Finance Management, Business Strategies and Big Buyers. The most recent is Competitive strategies in the automotive sector.
