Podcast: Why business leaders should be planning for the next COVID-19
The next seismic crisis is only a matter of time, but smart business leaders can prepare for it, says Professor Glenn Hoetker.
"There will be another pandemic – and if it isn't another pandemic, it'll be something like the Great Financial Crisis, or a terrorist attack on the scale of 9-11, or even political disruptions like the oil embargo of the 1970s," Professor Hoetker says.
"Every so often, we need to step back and really think about that larger environment that could affect us, and we need to translate that attention into concrete planning."
Professor Hoetker is the MBS Foundation Chair of Sustainability and Business and Director of the Centre for Sustainability and Business. In the latest Melbourne Business School Podcast, he speaks with Yasmin Rupesinghe on how businesses are coping with the current COVID-19 crisis and what they can do to better prepare for the next economic disaster down the road.
"There are probably common features across the most likely crises for a given business – it might be your supply chain, it might be losing sales, it might be about having your workforce unavailable all of a sudden," Professor Hoetker says.
"Once you've thought about what would that disaster be, that existential disaster, you can ask yourself, given your available resources, what can you put in place to prepare?
"If you've done the advanced work, you can move right into gathering the information you need to answer those questions – making decisions, taking actions – as opposed to trying to figure out both the questions and the answers at the same time, in the middle of a crisis."
Listen to the full episode above, or visit our podcasts page for more.
Professor Hoetker's research, teaching and outreach interests are at the confluence of strategy, innovation and globalisation. Visit his faculty profile for more information.
Yasmin is a Program Manager on our Executive MBA and Senior Executive MBA programs, and a radio presenter for PBS FM.
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