Insights: Recognizing Macro Trends

The current pandemic crisis has amplified and accelerated systemic changes most of which were already apparent but not being given due attention due to the focus of business leaders on their daily whirlwinds. These macro trends now require immediate attention as leaders need to balance short-term priorities with specific long-term plans to be able to come out amongst the winners in the near future.
Are there significant opportunities waiting to be explored & exploited?
We briefly highlight what’s evolving in a multitude of domains, each interdependent in some way and having a major impact on the business going forward:

Economic Growth
  • What would be the shape of economic recovery? Will it be a drawn-out U shaped or multi-dip recovery? Scenario planning can help prepare alternative plans to tackle this uncertainty.
  • There are some sectors that are already doing well (Pharma, E-commerce, IT...) while many others have started to recover to pre-Covid levels – how can these be exploited?
  • The government’s investment focus for stimulating the economy as well as consumer sentiments need to be closely monitored for changing behaviors.
  • The pandemic induced migration of workers has shifted the focus to rural economy for now. The inclusion of ‘bottom-of-pyramid’ into mainstream presents significant opportunities as being witnessed in FMCG, Telecom and Healthcare.

The questions for Leaders to reflect upon to help calibrate their responses include:

  1. 1. Which of these macro trends impact our business most, in what ways and what can be done to prepare our organization for them?
  2. 2. What long-held assumptions would we need to explicitly reset with all our stakeholders to achieve this?
  3. 3. What Strategic & Business model changes would position our company for sustained growth?
  4. 4. What purposeful actions will allow us to profitably tap the opportunities within these new realities?

The above provides only a broad picture of what to expect in the near future. However, success will depend upon a detailed analysis & action plan to address the implications effectively, as every company needs to embrace new ways of doing business in the new normal.