Opinion
UK-DK Trade: Let’s not return to the pre-pandemic normal
Gareth Garvey
July 20th, 2021
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This article is more than 3 years old.
Trade with Britain: as comfortable as old shoes! (photo: Pixabay)
The pandemic and its impact on the economy and world trade has impacted profitability and cash flow in most industries.
Ability to adapt is key
However, while hospitality, entertainment and travel are still struggling, other businesses are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.
At the same time, Brexit has impacted Danish companies exporting to Britain as well as British exports to Europe, but not as badly as many economists predicted.
Businesses continue to face other challenges, including climate change and political uncertainty in major markets, and are looking to leverage digitalisation, AI and other emerging technologies.
Throughout the last year, companies have demonstrated their ability to adapt to the constraints arising from the pandemic. Many employees have worked successfully from home, where Zoom and Teams have become the norm – in some cases taking us more internationally than we would have gone with unrestricted air travel!
Careful consideration
As the restrictions have relaxed, some organisations are looking to get back to ‘normal’, while others have declared that they will not revert to their old ways of working.
Clearly, there are many things to take into consideration as we explore how we do business in the future.
These include company culture, quality control, the ability to negotiate with customers and suppliers, the differences between factory and office-based workers, diversity, and employee mental health.
A golden opportunity
Let’s not make the mistake of getting back to ‘normal’.
We all now have a golden opportunity to take advantage of the momentum generated by the change forced upon us – and to question the assumptions built into our business models.
This is not just about whether we work from home. We should be taking advantage of the experience gained over the last year as an opportunity to look at our products and services, our markets, our supply chains, our customer relationships, and our overall business models to grow our businesses and make our contribution to the economic recovery.
About
Gareth Garvey
Gareth (gareth@bccd.dk), who has a passion for creativity and innovation in business, has been the CEO of the British Chamber of Commerce in Denmark since the start of 2017. Gareth has a background in management consultancy working for Price Waterhouse, PwC Consulting and IBM, and he also teaches at Copenhagen Business School.
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