The Outside View: Turning Coronavirus Weakness Into Strength

In a tense scene from the 1998 movie “Enemy of the State,” Gene Hackman says to Will Smith: “In guerrilla warfare, you try to use your weaknesses as strengths. If they’re big and you’re small, then you’re mobile and they’re slow. You’re hidden and they’re exposed.” We are in a war. Our immediate enemy is the coronavirus, but in the long run, we’re going to be facing a complete change of consumer expectation and behavior. So far, these changes have been masked by the fact that our customers are all “sheltering in place.” But be in no doubt: When we’re released, everything will be different. We’re not going to travel, eat, shop, or exercise the same way…perhaps forever. Let me get straight to the point. Don’t expect things to revert back to “normal,” and don’t count on any business model surviving intact. Our slogan needs to be: Change or die. Never before has that statement been as relevant as it is today. It’s time — right now — to question every business model. Yesterday, I passed by my favorite food outlet. Seemingly overnight, out of grim necessity, the owner has converted this fine-dining restaurant into a “last-minute” takeaway store. With chairs and tables stacked

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