The Crow can lead us to Covid-19 Recovery

The Crow can lead us to us to
Covid recovery
MAXWELL RANASINGHE
LECTURER/ TRAINER
MAXRAN1@YAHOO.COM

Ayubowan
5/18/2020Presentation by Maxwell Ranasinghe

You should be very happy for
two main reasons?
What are they?

1. You have beaten the Corona Virus and have made
yourself safe
2. You are interested in finding out ways and means of
surviving the Covid aftermath (that’s why your are
going through this presentation)

How to survive and prosper
Understand the change
Adopt to change like a crow

Understanding the change
Among many, few of the vital changes taken place with Covid- 19 or changes expected after
Covid-19 in Sri Lanka?
 Economy will contract: Our GDP was around USD 84 Billion in 2019
 Growth was 2.3% in 2019 due to Easter attack as against 5.7% in 2018
 Growth will reduce to greater level in 2020
 Tourism – even with 18% drop in 2019 due to Easter attack we earned
USD 3.6 Bn
 Tourist arrival dropped 70% in March 2020 and 0% in April 2020
 Around 400,000 directly and indirectly live on tourism will get affected
 Even if we recover, main countries that tourists arrive has affected badly
India, China, UK, USA, Germany etc.
 Apparel Exports – 46% of exports are from apparel industry and 990,000 employed

 Inward worker remittances will also decline owing to the global economic
slowdown. Almost half of the remittances are from the
Middle East.
 Mounting foreign debt servicing issue- within the next 12 months over
UDSD 1 Bn in International Bonds and USD 4.8 in debt payments due
 FDI investments may not come as expected
 Construction industry is going down

 Major apparel buyers such as USA (44%), UK (15%), Italy(8%), German(6%) y are
from heavily covid affected countries and have not placed order or even cancelled
the orders placed earlier.
 Vehicle imports restricted
 Non essential items – restricted
 Retail sector depended on imports will have major issues
 Construction- govt projects are on hold. Private sector tourism hotel and other
developments stalled, home building will drop
 Banks will face issues as to collections of loans and keeping the deposits top
provide loans

Government Support- Can it bail all of us
out?
 On the other hand a lot of inputs for exports are imported and therefore
corresponding imports also will; be reduced
 more local substitutes will be made and economy will be more of inward looking than
outward
 Govt is supporting industries and people in many
ways to come out of the problem
 Differing loan and lease payments
 Supporting banks
 Supporting local industries
 Subsidies to low income earners

Adopting to change like a Crow
What is special about crow?

Typical nest when trees and twigs are found
abundantly

When trees are not in the neighborhood, nests
are made on lamp pots. Why
Adopt to the
changing
environment

No twigs to make the nest but metal shirt
hangers.. Why?
Adopt to the
changing
environment like

What issues you will find in the market
place?
 Sales will drop, commissions will drop, unlike in the past you may have to work with
limited resources, salaries and benefits to get over the issue
 Collection of credit is going to be tough
 Finding new customers is challenging
 Retaining current customers is not going to be easy
 Hard to keep suppliers happy
 Support from banks and suppliers will be less
 All would ask cash payments and supplies on credit
will be restricted
 Many more………

We are a resilient nation
 We are a nation who had undergone many difficulties in the past
 In our own life time we faced the devastating 30 year civil war in the North,
 we faced the tsunami, we faced the Easter Attack in 2019
 As a nation we have been able to come back very strongly and make life normal
 All that was done by people getting together in working towards a common goal of
making this country a livable place.
 Whatever happens we have that spirit in us despite our race, religion or political
differences
 I am sure we will handle the Covid -19 as we have handled the other crises
and do well again

 Always when we have an issue, life gets very tough and uncertain
 As with other issues we faced, this is also a very uncertain time as we are fighting
with new enemy, Covid- 19 that we have never faced before
 On top of that the whole world is facing this issue and no answer is found to
completely control the issue
 We are worried about our own lives and near and dear ones

 It is easy to become discouraged during hard times
 At this time, it is more important to care about our mental and
emotional health just as much as our physical health
 The positive thinking is a strong force in you that you can tap
into face this situation
 If everyone of you think positively that we can face this situation well and make life
normal, it will help you, your family, your bank, our society to face the Covid -19 issue
well and overcome it
 Think uplifting thoughts and chose uplifting feelings and focus on creative ideas
 Be innovative –come up with new ideas and business models

Priority
 Negative thoughts create negative emotions
 If you think fear, you will feel fearful
 Take all precautions prescribed by the Government to
prevent the disease
 Set yourself up to a good start and say together
“ We are going to work together and face the situation well and win”

It is tough

What is your greatest responsibility
You got to work hard with a passion
to protect your job, your family, your company
and your country

 You have great purpose to work
 It is a fight that you need to put up no matter what your position is
 You got to stay strong encourage the weak to get up and work hard
 Be inspired from the efforts that the health workers, armed forces, police
and other authorities have worked hard day and night to provide a safer
environment for us to work when we were having free paid holidays at home
 They have done a great job, they are our own people, they created many novel ways of
handling and treating Covid patients and have shown success. Above all they had a
passion and great commitment.
 Now is it is our chance to show gratitude to them by doing our job with a great
commitment and passion too

 This is the time for you to adjust to the challenge
 Like the virus, our commitment to work with passion to overcome
this issue should be infectious
 Be united as great work force and bounce back
 Be excited to make it happen
 Be excited and positive and never be negative
 I am sure you will win

*** Do the basics right
 Many firms forget the basics when
they are doing well.
 Many things are taken for granted
 Effective and efficient
management systems should be
emphasized
 The best way to get out of rut is to
do the basics well
 No quick fixes but you need to
switch on to basics quickly


1. Be mindful
 Be smart and thrifty, but don’t get
panic. This, too, shall pass.
 Economies go through cycles of
expansion and contraction.
 It’s what we all learned in economics
courses (back then, of course, we
weren’t really paying attention, as we
were not really affected).

 We love the expansionary times, but the
contractions can be very painful.
 If you’re smart, you’ve managed your balance sheet
well and can ride out a period of slow or no growth.

2. Reduce waste totally and cut
unnecessary expenses
 Have a Brain Storming Session within
the staff on “ How to eliminate waste
and reduce expenditure” It should
come within.
 There will be so much that you can
do, just make an attempt.
 You will find so many options.

 E.g.. reduce expenditure, even selling a property and
settling high interest loans may help, close down loss
making ventures and concentrate more on the areas you
have a competitive advantage. Talk with banks and other
suppliers and tell them that you need their advice and
support to be afloat.
 This is applicable not only for your company but
personally to you as a staff member or a businessman.
 So personal expenses to be analyzed and reduced to the
bare minimum

3. Marketing is muscle, not fat. Be careful
about cutting it.
 Marketing money in a recession are like
oxygen on Mt. Everest—the less there is in
the surrounding environment, the more
valuable the amount you possess becomes.
 Cutting your marketing spending is a sure
way to give ground to competitors who
may be more aggressive during the
downturn.
 You may change the way you communicate
with the market but you need to keep on
communicating with the market about the
offers that you make. You just cant cut the
total advertising budget.

4. Don’t lose focus by chasing business you wouldn’t normally
want.
 When clients and customers get
nervous about the economy, they cut
back their spending.
 For you that could mean fewer
transactions, smaller purchases, or
possibly both.
 But if you try to broaden your service
appeal to please a wider audience,
chances are you’ll make your best
customers even less satisfied, giving
them one more reason to stay home
or spend less

 Do your best to stick to your customer base and enhance the
value you provide to your best customers. They may decide to
make their cutbacks in areas other than yours.
 Do your best to retain your good business partners such as your own suppliers,
banks, the government, your community and have a sharing and value adding
attitude to all of them

5. Don’t Discount.
 When companies are hit with declining
sales and shrinking margins, the options
can start to look bleak.
 It’s easy to rationalize discounting during
a downturn, for your company’s sake (”it
helps to drive business”) as well as for the
sake of your customers (”they’re
struggling and need the help”).
 Attacking one challenge( sales)–by
lowering prices, can make the other
challenge( margins) worse.

 Best way is to show that you give the “best bundle of
benefits” to your customer
 But one powerful way to enhance both sales and
margins in a downturn is to make your Sales Force More
Effective.
 Many companies in the world who had that attitude
among other changes have faced the situation well.

6. Do not be Pessimistic
 There’s lot of hope that the
world will come over the
current crisis.
 Sri Lanka is not affected very
much.
 We may pull out of our
economic rut more quickly
than anticipated
 Clients and customers will
still want to build their
businesses and we need to be
part of their journey

We at kick the affect of virus and win
together and prosper more

“It is in our darkest moment that we should focus to
see the light”-
Aristotle
 Thank you
 Your feedback: maxran1@yahoo.com

The Crow can lead us to Covid-19 Recovery

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (14)

Similar to The Crow can lead us to Covid-19 Recovery

Similar to The Crow can lead us to Covid-19 Recovery (20)

More from Maxwell Ranasinghe

More from Maxwell Ranasinghe (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

The Crow can lead us to Covid-19 Recovery