Introduction
The whole world is still suffering from COVID-19. Unfortunately, no one knows when the pandemic will end. We must predict what will happen after the pandemic and develop alternatives that should restore the stable atmosphere even if we do not know when it will end. First of all, we need to know what things and how many things changed in the world. After that, we can set up alternatives more efficiently.
Changes brought by COVID-19 Pandemic: Advantages and Disadvantages
Many people think that the coronavirus is giving us only bad things. Very interestingly, it has provided the world with some advantages. First, the biggest advantage is the improvement in the environment. Nitrogen dioxide levels have declined as many countries have imposed lockdowns. In particular, the air quality in China has definitely improved, and India has come to see the blue sky. Second, the number of people who pursue healthy lives has increased. Through this pandemic, people have been able to raise awareness about health. Also, more and more people are doing home training during quarantine, and home training has become a trend these days. Finally, more opportunities for good deeds such as donations come to light, and many entrepreneurs and influencers have done their best to help develop vaccines and restore society. These attitudes or actions are the most valuable things that have been created in the crisis the world is facing.
On the contrary, the biggest drawback is that the global economy is reeling, and even the economy at the national and local levels are still falling. For instance, in Korea, many self-employed people are complaining of damage, especially. Some self-employed people had to close their businesses. In addition, the market is shrinking as consumer spending shrinks worldwide. The shrinking consumer market is directly linked to the shrinking job market. Not only that, there were incidents in which people who were robbed of their freedom were rioting. They felt great inconvenience in living with masks, and they committed crimes such as assaulting or stealing from people recklessly. Among these crimes, racism is the most controversial issue these days. The coronavirus outbreak in China has caused racism among all Asians, and even threats and murders have occurred. These crimes not only create a nasty atmosphere in society but also negatively affect international relations.
Business Trends After Epidemics
After the coronavirus outbreak, personal contacts, meetings, and businesses moved online as global supply lines were suspended. This was to help corporate executives cope with COVID-19 and build a resilient supply network for the future. As a result, production and online distribution have developed digitally at a tremendous speed, and new business trends have started.
Now, the traditional business environment is changing. The massive change is telecommuting. The rest of the staff, except for a few essential executives and personnel, are working remotely. As the pandemic period has been prolonged, many people working in corporate have been working from home for about a year and a half. Fortunately, telecommuting has brought several benefits related to stress reduction and social equality for employees. However, there is a problem that franchises and large companies will receive more attention because the self-employed ones do not have much time and resources to build such a system.
Changes in Social Trends since the Coronavirus
People’s perception of health has changed a lot since the coronavirus outbreak. They have exercised harder to maintain a healthy life and become more interested in healthy food. As a result, home training was the first to gain huge popularity. Those who were unable to use the gym and those who did not enjoy exercising began to take home training as a challenge. Then, naturally, the demand for sportswear and home training equipment increased rapidly. The next thing that gained popularity was delivery products. As the preference for healthy foods increased and the number of meals at home increased, delivery companies benefited greatly. Diet lunch boxes consisting only of fruits and vegetables, as well as coffee, desserts, meat, and noodle dishes, can also be delivered to anyone, and home workers have also been highly used.
Society is a group of people who come together and form a community. Simply put, it is caused by people’s contact. However, contact can be very uncomfortable and bad in such a pandemic situation. We have to maintain a society without creating an uncomfortable and potentially bad situation. To compensate for this, a trend called un-tact, which once again quickly developed the world, was created. Un-tact is used to mean no contact and no direct contact. A typical example of un-tact is non-face-to-face classes or meetings on Zoom. As explained above, many companies have already recommended telecommuting to fight the virus. However, we cannot exclude work-related meetings, so we have meetings using programs, such as Zoom. In addition to work, it is also used as a personal task, including classes for students, meetings with friends, etc. Fortunately, society is maintained in this way, and more information is being exchanged.
Conclusion
We can think of the saying, “Every cloud has a silver lining.“ This proverb means that there is hope or opportunity even in difficult or sad situations. As we discussed in the first paragraph, the pandemic situation has ironically presented advantages for us. Of course, the current world situation will seem very bad and negative. However, as a result, we have quickly digitized over the years and produced positive results, such as new work environments and environmental improvements. There is also a famous phrase in Korea, “Crisis is an opportunity,” and this phrase came to mind a lot in this situation we are in. In conclusion, what we need to remember is not to be frustrated by the difficult situation but to try to overcome it. Then, good things will follow later, even if they are late.
References
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Jang, j., 2021. 코로나 이후 네 가지 주요변화에 주목해야. [online] Korea.kr. Available at: https://www.korea.kr/news/contributePolicyView.do?newsId=148883026 [Accessed 27 July 2021].
Jang, j., 2021. [online] Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2020/06/08/the-global-economic-outlook-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-a-changed-world [Accessed 27 July 2021].
Jang, j., 2021. 5 Business Trends Emerging in the Post-COVID World. [online] The Scalers. Available at: https://thescalers.com/business-trends-emerging-in-the-post-covid-world/ [Accessed 27 July 2021].
