Covid-19 impacts on business or management Language Essay

COVID-19 Impacts on Business
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COVID-19 Impacts on Business
Introduction
Civilization has had a remarkable influence in shaping the world, having brought to existence positive aspects like invention and innovation, globalization, education, modern-day governance, and many other positivisms. Big problems have also accompanied globalization, with pandemics as the epitome of the world's greatest problems. Socialization and domestication of wild animals together with the poor state of hygiene and nutrition are the major causes of infectious diseases that have been declared pandemic. Some of these infectious diseases include cholera, the Spanish Flu, and HIV. The world is currently at a standstill due to a pandemic, COVID-19, whose mode of transmission has curtailed the social life of human beings and reinvented a new normal. Besides being a health crisis, the pandemic has had a massive impact on the normal operation of businesses, both small and large, positioning it as a potential cause of a world economic recession. Several businesses have been forced to alter their operations to conform to the COVID-19 guidelines on limiting the spread of the diseases, with the management being brought to task to make necessary changes and approaches of leadership. New business ventures have also emerged as a result of COVID-19, with innovation and technology being at its best during this period of the pandemic.
Impacts on Airlines
From the onset of the pandemic, air transport has been identified as the super spreader of COVID-19. Being the major source of transport for overseas travel, the spread of the virus from one country to the other, across continents and states has been attributed to air transport. In a bid to curtail the spread of the virus, most countries have grounded their airlines. The number of international flights as observed by Flighttrader24 dropped to a record low in 2020, with commercial flights shrinking by a 55% margin as of March 2020, all in the name of COVID-19 (Petchenik, 2020). Most Governments up until to date maintain both international and local flights grounded, with a few having resumed under strict adherence to COVID-19 regulations, among them being the reduction of the number of passengers to almost half the capacity (Quiles, 2020). Some airlines around the globe have gone to the extent of sending their staff home as a result of the grounding, with the cost of operations becoming unbearable with business on a standstill.
Other businesses that rely on air they have also been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Flower and fruit exporters to be specific almost succumbed to COVID-19, bearing in mind that their products are perishable and can only ferried by air transport. Countries from East Africa like Kenya who are well-known exporters on flowers and other horticultural products to foreign markets like the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Germany have suffered a huge shock to the extend of downsizing their businesses, all because the international flights have been grounded.
Land Transport and Logistics
Land transport, which comprises road and rail has been directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as countries move in to close borders and implement partial and total lockdowns. Logistics firms, whose business operations depend on land transports have also been cut short. Businesses rely on logistics firms to move products and services from one place to the other, further translating the impact onto other sectors such as manufacturing (Singh et al., 2020). Trains and vehicles whose main purpose is to ferry passengers have been forced to alter their business operation to a point that barely makes business sense. In some countries, the capacity has been limited to nearly half while others have been completely grounded, forcing them to send some of their employees of unpaid leaves.
The impact of the pandemic on the transport and logistics industry has forced many countries to be creative enough to avoid dangers that might be associated with the supply of essential products and services such as food and healthcare equipment. Instead of grounding vehicles and trains ferrying passengers, they have been tasked with the supply of essential products to offset the growing demand (Quiles, 2020). The impact on the transport industry has been somehow uneven, with logistic firms specializing in the supply of essential products and services on the benefiting side while those specializing in ferrying non-essential products like building and construction equipment being afflicted due to shrinking demands (Quiles, 2020). Nonetheless, most transport and logistic companies have embarked on formulating a recovery plan, owing to the fact that the pandemic will come to pass either naturally or as a result of medical interventions.
Businesses Positively Impacted by COVID-19
It would be fair to recognize the fact that COVID-19 has not only brought damage to business but also has led to the tremendous growth of some businesses. Working from home has been the order of the day in many countries since the outburst of the virus earlier this year. Video conferencing technologies are the only enablers for work from home services (Hern, 2020). Consequently, the industry has recorde...