The Future of Business: 7 Strategies to Thrive in a Post-Pandemic Market

The unprecedented occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic caught everybody off guard, leaving many ill-prepared to handle what became an over two-year period of hardship. Particularly, small and medium-sized businesses found themselves scrambling for effective ways to cope with the pandemic’s challenges.

According to a study, the number of establishment owners in the U.S. alone dropped by approximately 3.3 million or 22% from February to April 2020. Globally, 26% of businesses could not operate during a survey conducted in Q2 2020. 

It will be an uphill battle for most business owners post-pandemic because of several challenges.

1. Inflation

Business owners, especially those operating SMEs, may have to increase their pricing or run the risk of taking a significant hit to their profit. According to a  from the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, wholesale prices jumped to nearly 10% in 2021. Several businesses needed to hike prices in the past few months, as well.

Unfortunately, increasing their prices does not solve the significant pain points of business owners. Some have resorted to taking out loans and implementing austerity measures to manage increased costs brought on by the pandemic.

2. Interference in the supply chain

The pandemic has significantly disrupted supply chains. These supply chain problems that plague businesses might also linger even after global economies try to recover from the health crisis. Already, some small business owners are voicing their dismay, as they believe suppliers favor owners of bigger businesses.

As such, 59% of business owners are slowly adopting new supply chain management practices to address the bottlenecks so they could continue delivering goods and services to customers. That’s because they’re aware that customers are paying close attention to businesses that are being resourceful in addressing pandemic-related challenges and, thus, making lives easier for them.

3. Difficulty in human resources management

One of the biggest challenges for any business is attracting and retaining high-quality employees. 

According to a survey conducted by leading global investment banking, securities, and investment management firm Goldman Sachs, 87% of recruiters find it challenging to secure good talent.

In addition, 97% of businesses state that the inability to recruit for open positions hurts their bottom line. Business owners and their respective recruitment teams must find new ways to drive their talent acquisition efforts.

Here, the top methods include offering higher financial and non-financial benefits. These steps may be harder for smaller companies to execute, as they have limited resources compared with more established businesses that have the means to devise elaborate and resource-intensive strategies to recruit talent. 

Planning for the Future

With the world bound for a recession in the days ahead, it’s only reasonable for businesses to prepare for any eventuality. Fortunately, a good majority of business owners remain positive regarding resuming or continuing operations.

While it will be quite an ordeal to deal with, roadblocks will be easier to overcome if you’re equipped with proper knowledge and if you start early. If you’re a business owner needing information, ideas, or insights regarding post-pandemic business trends, let this infographic serve as your guide in navigating the business landscape in the new normal.