Byline: 

Covid-19 has caused monumental disruptions throughout the globe. This past week the federal Centers for Disease and Control urged Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest travel period of thee year. America has experienced over 252,000 deaths. 187,000 new cases were reported on November 19th, an increase of 73 percent from the average just two weeks earlier. 

Although the news is bleak, there are some extraordinary achievements that deserve attention. The creative energies of our country and its companies remain inspirational and draw upon our innovative traditions. At the beginning of World War 2, the productive capacity of Nazi Germany appeared awesome. Within a few years, the wartime production of America was multiples of Germany, Italy, and Japan combined.  In 1939 the United States army ranked nineteenth in size in the world (174,000 men). The army ballooned to nearly 8.3 million active duty soldiers by the end of May 1945.

In October 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, and the Space Age had arrived.  In the shadow of the Cold War struggle between communism and the free world, many Americans felt that the Russian success was symbolic of American weakness and a sign of Soviet superiority in technology. By 1969 the United States was able to put a man on the moon. 

In 2020, the world was totally unprepared for Covid-19. Despite the challenges, Moderna and Pfizer developed a vaccine in record times that was dependent upon gene-based technology. Traditionally vaccines take years to bring to market because researchers have to spend enormous time developing and growing a virus, which generate an immune response when injected. In gene-based methodology, the vaccine derives from taking advantage of the body’s own molecular machinery.

Covid-19 has forced companies to question how effectively to use their workforce. William Gates, founder of Microsoft, predicted that business trips will be reduced by more than 50% and office usage will decline by 30%. In a nutshell, the home office increased exponentially and business meetings converted into business video calls. Gates said “We will continue to go to the office and will continue to do business trips, but much less. In October, Microsoft announced that its employees could work from home permanently for at least 50% of their working hours.

The coronavirus pandemic has proved that Americans have an insatiable appetite for streaming services. Viewership at Netflix soared, with a record increase of 16 million in the first quarter of 2020. Disney has attracted close to 55 million subscribers in just six months. By contrast, the US movie theater industry has been devastated. Regal Cinemas announced in October that it would suspend operations of all of its theaters in the United States.

The pandemic hurt businesses across the world, but it has helped Amazon. Total e-commerce sails nearly doubled in May. Amazon has 38% of the e-commerce market, trailed by Wal-Mart with 6%. 115 million households in America use Amazon.

On November 18, the U.S. approved Boeing Company’s 737 MAX jets for passenger flights again. Boeing established numerous new emergency checklists for their pilots and allowed MAX pilots to manually override the powerful rear horizontal stabilizer. 20 months after being out of service, Boeing made their plane safe to operate, making extensive changes in software, design and training. These innovations saved the company from the dustbin of history.

At a relatively young age I learned that I was mortal. However, I did not recognize that the life of companies was also finite. I had believed that behemoths such as Eastman Kodak, Sears Roebuck, Texaco, Westinghouse, RCA, etc. were invincible. They had erected the equivalent of a Maginot Line. I now understand that the winds of change impact the big and small. Seemingly huge dinosaurs without evolving can become extinct.