Category Archives: economy

April 17, 2020 · 7:57 am

Post-COVID-19 Business as Usual

Trump’s “Biggest Decision Ever” – Reopening Business

As it appears the COVID-19 crisis in the U.S. is slowing, perhaps flattening or peaking and on the verge of declining, there has been a lot of discussion around when and how the country should return to “business as usual.” President Donald Trump says deciding when to reopen the country is “the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make.”

Of course, this has been accompanied with the typical chorus of Monday-morning- quarterbacks who are ceaseless Trump opponents. I plan to address that in an upcoming article. Disregarding that for now I will offer my views trusting that the American people who, led by the Trump administration, had achieved the greatest economy in world history prior to the COVID-19 nightmare, will likewise make the best decision on reopening the country.

A Smarter New Business Model or a Return to Greedy Business as Usual?

Mark Cuban – innovation stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak

It seems like a no-brainer to agree with President Trump that it’s desirable for U.S. business to reopen as soon as possible. The key question remaining though is “When?”. For now, I’m trusting that the President is getting this right, being courageous while taking into full consideration the advice of the task force he has put together.

Although Trump is a much smarter business man than I am, I’m not so confident that U.S. business will experience the “V-shaped economic recovery that the President says he expects. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who is a part of the President’s task force, has a different view.  He says, “I have no doubt in my mind that we’ll come back and be stronger than ever. But it’s not going to happen immediately.” I’m more in agreement with Cuban’s position and even more so, I agree with him that taking “baby steps” in reopening U.S. business is a superior approach.

Cuban says, “People aren’t going to just venture outside. They’re not going to go to large gatherings. They’re not going to feel confident right off the bat. There’s going to be a lot of trepidation. And that concern is going to lead to people holding back on spending money.” I agree with this reasoning. I believe we should expect U.S. business to rebound more gradually. In addition to that, I think U.S. business should capitalize on its current downtime and coming gradual recovery by preparing to move to a smarter new business model.

In order for U.S. business people to get an understanding of the the smarter new business model I have in mind, I would first ask them to take a look at their current volume of customers. For the most part, that is at or near zero. With that in mind, it’s understandable that businesses whose customers have been absent would want to crowd in as many customers as possible as soon as possible. But, though greed may be natural, often, it isn’t smart. In addition to understanding what Mark Cuban says about customers “… trepidation … And that concern is going to lead to people holding back on spending money”, they should recognize that, through their greed, they could reignite the pandemic and return their customer volume to the bottom. In order to illustrate what I see as a smarter new business model going forward, let me exemplify the way I see it applying to a couple of specific market segments.

Restaurants and Food Services

Already Ahead of the Game?

This market segment has been hit very hard by the COVID-19 nightmare. No doubt, many restaurant owners long for the days when their dining rooms were filled and crowds of people were sitting at the entry way, waiting for seating to become available. As I said earlier, it’s understandable for businesses to want to regain as many customers as possible as soon as possible but having those longed for days as their goal doesn’t seem to be smart. It seems to me that finding a way to reopen in a way that minimizes trepidation and moves towards a new way to maximize the customer base is much smarter. Here’s how that could look:

  • All employees wear masks and gloves and minimize direct contact with customers.
  • Dining rooms are set up in a way that provides appropriate social distancing.
  • All seating is handled via reservation. If immediate seating is unavailable, customers can set a reservation for later or order meals to be picked up or be referred to a partner restaurant.
  • Ordering and paying can be done electronically from dining room tables using systems that are already available.
  • Hand sanitizing available at each table.
  • Instead of having servers bring meals to the tables, at least at first, meals could be picked up and brought to the tables by the customers themselves.

Since I’m not a member of the National Restaurant Association, I don’t really know all the ins and outs of the food service industry. I do know that there are many more aspects of reopening that restaurateurs will need to consider. And, I know there are restaurant types that can’t fit this model. A good example here is buffet style restaurants like Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes. Additionally, there are restaurant types like Sonic who are kind of ahead of the game because they already offer service to diners in their parked cars. With all this understood, I think the above outline can serve as a good starting point for the majority of restaurants.

Sports and Entertainment

The Big A

I have tickets to a Dodgers/Angels game in July. I bought the tickets early when Spring Training was still going on and the game was nearly sold out then. Although I’m still clinging to the thread of a hope that I’ll get to go to this game, I have to admit that I don’t relish the thought of sitting elbow-to-elbow with over 45,000 others, to standing in line with them for food and beverage and especially to sharing the restroom facilities with them. If a rabid Angels fan like me has this sort of “trepidation” about spending time on the hallowed ground of Angels Stadium of Anaheim, I’m confident that many others feel likewise about going to the Big A, as well as other sports and entertainment venues. Here’s my suggestion for how to improve on this, using the Big A as an example.

First of all, the “big bucks” for MLB come from TV. So, step one should be to start getting some televised games played, even if they are in empty stadiums. Although I’ve heard of the possibility of starting a season with all games being played in one state – e.g. Arizona – that has low COVID-19 stats, I don’t favor that idea. Certainly that could be done because fan seating capacity wouldn’t be a factor and that would make more than enough suitable ball fields available. My guess is that one aspect that makes this idea appealing is that it minimizes the exposure of teams to different environments in traveling, dining, housing, etc. My sense is that these considerations can be controlled sufficiently using MLB stadiums while limiting the range of related environments. And, this would set the stage for ways to, again, have fans in attendance.

So, what is the best way to get back to having fans in attendance at the Big A? Whether I (or you) like it or not, I think this has to begin with limiting the crowd size. In addition to that not being ideal for fans, no doubt, it’s not desirable for the businesses that rely on the Big A for their revenue. But, I would remind them, having some fans in the stadium is a great improvement over the number of fans in attendance today … ZERO! Certainly a venue with a seating capacity of over 45,000 has ample room to accommodate schemes that offer appropriate social distancing for the fans.

While my suggestion may work well for the Angels and Angels fans, what about those other businesses that rely on the Big A as the source of their revenue? The truth is that there are some whose businesses will no longer fit the new smarter business model necessitated by the COVID-19 experience. I believe, though, that most of these other businesses can make changes that allow their businesses to survive and eventually, to thrive.

First, lets look at businesses that are necessary for getting fans to and into he stadium. Tickets can already be purchased online. Ticket-taking can be done at the parking lot gate with an adjacent pedestrian portal. Security screening would be a challenge but, as a start, fans could be prohibited from taking anything in to the stadium besides their clothing.

Once fans have found their way to their seats, what about food/beverage and restroom use? Certainly, phone apps can be developed for each stadium that would allow fans to order and pay for food and beverages that could be delivered to their seats. Restroom use isn’t quite as simple but I’m sure appropriate schemes can be developed for managing the number of people allowed in a restroom at a time and appropriately spacing fans who are waiting in a restroom line.

Just as I said about the Restaurant and Food Service industry, I don’t really know all the ins and outs of the Sports and Entertainment business. Certainly, there are many more aspects of reopening that their executives will need to consider. But I do think my ideas here offer some good examples of creative ways to get our Sports and Entertainment venues reopened.

Other for-Profit and Nonprofit Organizations

Surely, the suggestions I’ve offered won’t map to the needs of all organization types. But many of them are in a similar position to the market segments I’ve addressed, to “make lemonade out of lemons.” Another obvious one is the airline industry. For a very long time, their customer base has been begging for more legroom. Here’s a great opportunity to get people flying again and to give them the product they’ve been longing for at the same time. Anyway, getting this right for all market segments is going to require a great deal of creativity on the part of our “Captains of Industry.” I do hope, though, that instead of taking the approach of greedily trying to return to the old business as usual as quickly as possible, they will take a smarter approach to building a new business model that is far superior in the long term.

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September 5, 2013 · 6:44 am

Purple Mountain Travesty

Often, Baby Boomers, like me, are heard lamenting about things that aren’t “like they were when we were growing up.” These complaints can come off as one wishing to relive their childhood. In some instances, that, in fact, may be the case. In this instance, my grief is over losing a foundational quality to the greatness of American culture, a quality that drew our predecessors to this land in the first place. The following brief piece, presented by Bret Baier and Peter Boyer, of Fox News, is a good way to set the stage for what I want to address in this article:

The tragedy of America’s great food stamp binge

Continue reading →

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August 26, 2013 · 7:32 am

Land Where The Fathers Hide

WHERE’S DAD?

missingparentAccording to my Pastor, “…human relationships – particularly when united in fellowship with God – (are) the foundational building blocks … and the backbone of (our) local communities and culture.” I wholly agree with that and I’ve added to it by saying, “Without that foundation, secular goals – e.g. a thriving and stable economy, affordable quality healthcare, affordable quality education, justice for all, etc. – are unattainable. When communities and culture come apart, so do all things relying on the support of that foundation.

In another recent Teaching (from Matthew 19: 13-15), my Pastor touched on the dramatic deterioration our culture continues to experience with one of these “foundational building blocks”. This aspect of cultural devolution has been labeled “Fatherlessness”. Since this reality has significantly impacted my life, from near the beginning to the present day, raising the topic touches me deeply.

Before delving into this matter, first, I must issue a disclaimer. I am not fatherless in terms of not knowing who my father is nor that he had no presence in my life. Although I didn’t grow up in my Dad’s home, I knew him and I love him dearly. When he died, at the age of 56, I was devastated. With that said, when I was only three years old, he left my mother, making her a single-parent … a term that wasn’t even used in those days … and I, along with my older brother and sister, became what were then known as children of a broken home. Looking back over the decades since that event, I’ve recognized that a male role model and mentor has always been lacking in my life and I’ve often wondered how different my life would have been if that void had been filled.

My “broken home” experience began over six decades ago, around 1950 to 1951. In those days, I and my siblings were the only “children of a broken home” that I knew. Sadly, since then, this has worsened exponentially. According to an article entitled Father Absence and the Welfare of Children, by Sara McLanahan:

“Increases in divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing have dramatically altered the family life of American children. Whereas in the early 1960s, nearly 90 percent of all children lived with both of their biological parents until they reached adulthood, today less than half of children grow up with both natural parents. Nearly a third are born to unmarried parents, the majority of whom never live together, and another third are born to married parents who divorce before their child reaches adulthood. To further complicate matters, a substantial number of children are exposed to multiple marital disruptions and multiple father figures.”

WHAT HAPPENED?! Continue reading →

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Filed under Baby Boomers, commitment, community, Crime, Culture, economy, Education, Family, Fathers, Healthcare, Justice, Marriage, Substance Abuse

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June 2, 2009 · 12:26 am

The Biggest Casualty, So Far, Of A Nation Divided Against Itself – General Motors

Lunatic Foreign Terrorists Brought Down The WTCTwinTowers

 

– GM’s Collapse Is A Fully-Domestic Self-Inflicted Wound

My first visit to New York City’s World Trade Center was in 1979. The company I worked for, at that time, had a branch office on the ground floor of one of the buildings in the WTC complex so I was there on business. A few years later, in the mid-80s, I was there on business again. The company I was working for then held a fiscal-year-end celebration dinner at Windows on the World (aka Windows), the renowned restaurant that occupied the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower. And, while on vacation in the early-90s, I got to visit Top of the World, the observation deck at 1,377 feet, atop the South Tower. What a blessing it was to have those experiences! And what magnificent structures they were! Literally and figuratively, they were a high point, symbolizing the great strength of American Capitalism. With their magnificence, it was well beyond my imagination that on a beautiful September day in 2001 a small band of maniacs, who hated everything the Twin Towers stood for, would bring them down, along with nearly 3,000 lives. Those who were responsible for that were identified, though. Many have been brought to justice and we continue to pursue justice for all who were responsible.

When I was born, General Motors was the world’s largest automaker. At that point, it had held that distinction for 17 years and it would continue to do so for the next 60 years. What New York City’s World Trade Center symbolized about the great strength of American Capitalism, Detroit City’s General Motors was, in fact. As I completed my formal education in the 50s and 60s, the optimum target for anyone with a business career in mind was a job with GM. And, as I carried out my business life, starting in the 70s and continuing into the new millennium, GM continued to serve as the standard metaphor of the ideal employer/business-partner. Considering that, in the heyday of my working life, General Motors reached its zenith, employing 349,000 workers in 150 assembly plants; you can understand that it was well beyond my imagination that on the first day in June, nearly 101 years after its founding, the once seemingly all powerful industrial giant known as General Motors would announce its bankruptcy. Unlike the disintegration of the WTC Twin Towers, the colossal collapse of GM wasn’t the result of foreign terrorists; it was the result of domestic ineptitude on the part of our Captains of Industry, our Wizards of Wall Street, our Labor Leaders and Politicians of all stripes. While Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is having his nasal passages regularly hydrated, Osama Bin Laden is living like a mountain goat and their compatriots are ducking real bullets; the dim-wits responsible for GM’s fall are shooting blanks at each other with their pointed fingers.

What’s needed here is for all of us, including the above-mentioned dim-wits, to draw together and do what President George Bush said he was going to do in the midst of the WTC ruble. Whether or not you were/are a GWB fan, his words from that time serve as a great example for the appropriate response to today’s disaster. The paraphrase I’d use is … “We hear you! And the rest of the world will hear all of us soon!” It was that attitude, not an attitude of Reds just opposing everything Blues are in favor of and vice-versa, that made America and American Capitalism so great in the first place. Some call it synergy … the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. My favorite label for it is the one that goes back to the founding of our country … Yankee Ingenuity.That’s the attitude that made it possible for us to accomplish things like winning a two-front world war. At the center of that successful effort was American Industry and an industrial giant named General Motors. If we truly want to regain the greatness our nation has known, we must rediscover that attitude and fully embrace it. That will require all of us and the leaders we choose, to stop the finger pointing and actually consistently extend our hands “across the aisle” instead of just paying lip service to that need.

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October 14, 2008 · 3:15 pm

Faith … In The World Economy

NOTE: This article was originally published in A Few Days With Figgins.

As you might expect, over the past couple of weeks, Figgins and I have had several discussions about our nation’s financial crisis, that quickly spread to world markets. Since Figgins is a true Millennial, his experience with this sort of thing is next-to-none. Though I’m older, by an order of magnitude, I’m still just a Baby Boomer. I don’t have the experience of the Great Depression and my business expertise hasn’t been in Finance so I haven’t had solutions to offer, with confidence. However, I have been able to pass along some observations of differing reactions to these circumstances and I think that’s been meaningful to him.

One related occasion involved meeting with the VP of Sales of a $Billion+ firm. This is a man who is at retirement age but he’s considering postponing his retirement due to the current economy. I suspect that his compensation plan is pretty healthy and he mentioned that he’s in the process of having a vacation home built abroad so it didn’t seem that he was in imminent danger of going broke. When he told me of a night he had spent “from 8:00 in the evening until 4:00 in the morning, calling Stock Brokers, with all (his) financial papers spread out around (him)”, it was obvious that he is scared, nearly senseless, of the economy’s uncertainties. In sympathy, I shared with him that these are the sort of times when I’m especially appreciative of the peace I have, as a man of faith. I told him that my slogan is, “I don’t know what tomorrow holds but I know Who holds tomorrow.” And, I went on to say that I like to look at the sun when it comes up in the morning and realize that I had absolutely nothing to do with that happening. My point is that I don’t have any more control over the world economy than I do of the sun coming up in the morning so why should I worry about one more than the other. Sadly, he wasn’t open to what I had to say and his anxiety seemed to remain, as we parted.

On another occasion, we heard from a couple who are friends from our church “back home”. Their first message asked us to join them in praying about a situation that involved a relative who is out of work, who lost his home and who, along with his Wife and dog, is being evicted from his apartment because he’s now out of money even for rent. Now, our friends were being asked to take in the relative, the Wife and the dog. Of course there are many things to consider in a situation like this and we don’t know all the particulars but we do know that our friends both have full-time jobs, they’ve been struggling for the past few years to try to buy a home of their own and one of them has asthma and allergies so having a dog around is not ideal. Today, we heard from our friends, thanking us for our prayers and letting us know of their decision to have the relative move in, along with his Wife and dog. They have committed to covering all the costs, “including dog food”, without any payback to be done so that the relative can “save his money & get a job”.

Finally, I told Figgins that it was these sort of experiences that led me to Luke 9:57 – 10:2 for our time in the Word, at this past Saturday’s Calvary Chapel – Vancouver – Married Couples Fellowship Event. That concludes with, “Then He said” … “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” My added encouragement was that this is a GREAT TIME! Its a time when you can truly bless others by sharing your faith. I don’t know that the words I spoke in sympathy with the VP of Sales will have any impact. I pray that they will. Likewise, I pray that the Lord will use the up-close view our friends’ relatives (and others) are getting of what faith can do. And, for you, my Christian Brothers and Sisters who are reading this, I pray that, in this time of uncertainty in the world, you’ll be especially watchful for opportunities to witness through the way you live. When those around you are shaking like a leaf and they turn to look at you, to see someone who is at peace, they’re certain to wonder, “What do they have that I don’t?” and that will lead to eternal blessing!

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