The outbreak of the deadly coronavirus has been a mixed bag for businesses. Many are facing imminent shut down, some others are re-strategising and moving into other production areas to provide essentials like consumables to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
In a report by the World Economic Forum, it stated that “companies are reacting in different ways to ensure business continuity, improve the resilience of their supply chain or pivot to innovative ways to generate revenue.”
It added that new measure that could be observed across industries and countries was that companies were shifting from one production line to another to meet urgent needs. For instance a company moved from perfume production to hand sanitizer, while industrial companied are now producing face masks.
It indicated, “For example, luxury brands like LVMH are switching production lines from producing perfume to making hand sanitiser, industrial companies are making hygienic masks, and luxury hotels are becoming quarantine centres.
“Distilleries are creating disinfecting alcohol, and automotive companies are evaluating options to producing urgently needed medical devices such as ventilators.”
The report, however, added that in the wake of the outbreak of deadly virus, companies should make it a priority to protect their workforce.
It stated, “One of the key priorities for most companies is to protect their own workforce while keeping operations running as long as possible.
“In many cases (especially for companies in manufacturing) these two objectives require workers to protect themselves – for example, by wearing masks and increasing their use of disinfectants.”