Recently, Hong Kong endured its worst outbreak since the pandemic began, and as the economic data reflects, the situation is still far from stable. While we have probably learned enough during the last two years to weather sudden disruptions, the durability of those lessons has been mixed. For businesses, the real enduring lessons have largely been internal and cultural.
Some businesses, for example, have developed new online offerings that customers can enjoy from home. Even during periods of normalcy, these adjuncts expand a business’s offerings as well as its customer base, increasing revenue in the long term as well as the short. Many businesses have also discovered the desirability of a more resilient workforce with more generalist skillsets and less ‘siloed’ workflows. Another lesson is for businesses to stay focused on serving their clients’ actual needs, concerns and aims.
For many businesses in Hong Kong and elsewhere, the pandemic was a painful wake-up call. Those who start early to separate the crisis’s expedient lessons from the durable ones may have a head start in the post-pandemic world.
Lawrence Chia
Chairman, Pico Group
