‘Containment Economy’

At this time, from tycoons and multinationals, to the worker with a stable position, they have something in common: they are ready to spend, but uncertainty stops them. A 'moment of calm 'prior to reactivation, the hope of many.

Regardless of the size / type of business where you work, have you recently noticed an increase in proposals to close prospects, which at the same time are awaiting approval and alignment within the potential client?

He is not the only one … at the end of the first quarter of this year, 57% of financial, purchasing, and human resources managers according to Deloitte are confirmed “reluctant to approve budgets in the face of high uncertainty.”

A year ago, at the beginning of the Pandemic - Confinement - Recession, business uncertainty was around 39%. Why does the existence of a vaccine seem to decrease confidence?

The answer lies in the fact that mobilizing the initial impact of Covid-19 was a simultaneous global effort, in two months - January 23 to March 21 - practically all nations went into quarantine, while the ‘exit’ process will be so granular, that even Within a city there will be multiple realities, causing public / private decisions to stand still, in a strategic planning paradox where the world panorama seems clearer in four years than in four months.

An uncertainty that is far from a lack of resources … billionaires have 58.7% more money after the pandemic (Forbes), the main corporations in the United States and the United Kingdom have ‘braked’ 1/3 of their execution plan for 2021 (The Economist ), and the ‘magic’ number: By the end of March, households globally had accumulated $ 5.4 trillion in extra savings, equivalent to 6% of global GDP, according to Moody’s.

Uncertainty is about implementing the physical and mental ‘return’ to realities, habits and routines that existed before, and the challenges they imply in light of vaccination.

A good example will be the return to the offices, where companies will have to execute an intricate plan where the reality of the pandemic in the territory, the role of the employee, and the needs of the work environment will make -among others- that in a single corporation, there is a Endless options, not to mention that 1/3 of office workers (better known as the wonderful ‘Godín’) are willing to ‘negotiate their salary in exchange for staying remotely’, according to Bloomberg.

As this case is practically everything … return to education, develop events, activate safe hospitality, be able to go out to party without being judged for it, change residence, go to a soccer game, or create a business.

It appears that the global economic system is ‘waiting’ for four ‘milestones’ at the end of this quarter, to boost spending at all levels:

1. That the cash flow decreases, knowing that since December there has been liquidity to sustain efficient operations.
2. The arrival of mass vaccination to the main economies of the world, where Europe does not start and the United States sweeps.
3. Achieve the implementation of the ‘Covid Passport’ or a simile that manages to generate a reopening of borders with greater security.
4. Officializations of tax reforms that many of the countries will implement to remedy the impact of the pandemic.

As time passes, two phenomena loom: the way in which the gap between developed and emerging countries widens, from sanitary restrictions and the economic reactivation model, to housing prices. For the World Economic Forum in this sense the world is “going back” twenty years. A migration of Latino entrepreneurs and talents is “just around the corner.”

And the mental effect: an emotional tension that some experts define as “Languishing”: a feeling of stagnation and emptiness, in which a passing of the days is perceived without expectations, becoming a “passive” participant in the story. For some, this is the main thrill of 2021, for others the ‘psychological longevity’ of the pandemic. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/well/mind/covid-mental-health-languishing.html

It seems that the best way to approach this moment is focused on seeing the competitive strategy from the local perspective, and giving those who are ‘in the field’ the opportunity to maneuver according to the reality of the business versus the pandemic and its cycles. peak and vaccination.

And from the reality of each person, it is not time to plan, but to endure, with great efficiency and awareness when spending.

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