COVID-19 pneumonia has been around for 14 months. The total number of confirmed cases all over the world is over 117 million. It seems this unprecedented public health crisis is going to subsist for another period of time. To contain the plague, various countries around the globe have adopted different preventive measures, including border control and quarantine, social distancing, working from home and even curfew. The pandemic has had profound impact on our lives and work beyond any doubt, but thanks to advanced technologies, we have been coping with a spectrum of restrictions of social gatherings pretty well.

In the past year, some industries and corporations were dealt a devastating blow by the infection and became losers. There is a plethora of examples: tourist industry, airlines, hotels, tourist attractions, retail industry(especially eateries and pubs), and some labor-intensive enterprises(e.g. manufacturing industry). On the other hand, some industries and corporations benefited from it and became winners. Amidst numerous new normals such as lockdowns, quarantines and working from home, some commercial services become essential, and one of them is online shopping. Even though we stay home 24/7, we can procure the necessities of life. Better still, product choices are getting more and more diverse, which makes “never leave home” come true. Actually, the market did not overlook this trend, as evidenced by the fact that stocks of companies providing related services have been picking up substantially over a certain period of time.

It takes a delicate, flexible and efficient logistic system to provide such point-to-point delivery service. What’s worth noting is that it is also possible, if not highly probable, for delivery men to get contracted. To minimize physical contacts, some delivery companies have employed zero-contact practice, only placing parcels at buildings’ front entrances. It is believed that in the near future, delivery by robots or drones is going to be more and more popular.

Like a lot of other cities, Hong Kong had experienced school suspension for quite a long time. Most schools provided online learning platform for students to carry on studies at home, and video learning became part of their daily lives. Since students mostly stayed home “after school”, online entertainments such as gaming, music and videos streaming were getting prevailing. To reduce the risk of infection, kids studied at home, while adults worked from home. Virtual private network, virtual conference and cloud technology became the key to normal operations of the business world. Meanwhile, we had to be cautious about data collection and network security. The corporations that are able to provide related services and stay ahead of the competition are promising in terms of future development.

Admittedly, digitalization is one of the effective ways for enterprises to survive amidst the pandemic. Financial markets are places where the fittest survive. Those who fail to adapt to the new normal after the pandemic will be weeded out.

(Chung Sau Ha, senior fund manager of Allianz Global Investors)

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