What have the top 10 companies in the world done for us in the Pandemic?
‘Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.’
Albert Einstein
The year 2020 has been an odd year for businesses. People dislike change, so we tend to hold the helm steady but when pushed to a corner, the human instinct of survival can put up a fight that surprises even the best of us.
The Oil Crisis of 1973, the Energy Crisis of the 80s, the Indian Economic crisis of 1991 or the Global Financial crisis in 2008 — we were pushed into a fight for our existence time and again and the human race innovated to come up to the surface every single time.
And this time — it was the Sars Cov2, not-so-fondly known as the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic that had the world on its knees — Wave after wave, variant beyond variant, not one but two layers of masks, from social distancing to social isolation — much of mankind has not seen such an atrocity in their lifetimes. And same is the case with many businesses that were forced to live through this pandemic without a handbook or a case study to refer.
But we are here — still surviving, somehow coordinating, eating, sleeping, working connecting with our friends and family — through two of the worst years of civilization.
It will be incorrect to say that this was possible without the lead of a few businesses that took charge of the world’s output, spread employment, gave money in the hands of the people and kept the World Economy in working condition throughout 2020 and now 2021.
Who are these brands? What did they do? Did they live up to their stature of being the Top 10 Brands of the World?
Our objective was to skim through this list and understand which of these brands actually contributed towards making this century’s worst pandemic a little less harsh for the general population — most of which is also their consumer base and the reason of their success.
Apple
When you say the word ‘resilience’, there is one brand that often stands out — Apple! But the virus has proven it is stronger than any ‘other’ man-made force — Even the World’s first Trillion Dollar company was forced to alter course when Sars Cov2 first attacked the East Asian corner of the World — China. Apparrently, there isn’t enough manpower anywhere in the world apart from China that could withstand the pressure of Apple’s manufacturing and supply chain demands.
A New York Times Report, in fact placed a very pertinent figure in perspective — the factory that assembles Apple’s products in China employs 2,30,000 workers — All of America has only 83 cities that have a population surpassing that number!
Apple surely experienced supply disruptions and product delays due to factory closures as the virus made its way through its manufacturing hubs all over the world — particularly east and south east Asia — Apple remained steadfast. Determined.
Despite closed stores around the world, online sales boomed and carried them through to a $58 bn revenue quarter this March. New product launches and an ever-expanding ecosystem of wearables and services kept the world excited about the technology in their palms — what alternative do they have in the raging pandemic anyways?
But did Apple do anything to share its spoils with the world? Yes it did.
Apple partnered with Google to develop an Exposure Notifications System, a contact tracing API that uses Bluetooth to contact trace and alert users about possibly being exposed to the virus, saving thousands of lives in the process . It made modifications to the Face ID unlock feature to accommodate mask wearing users, made changes in Face Time to bring about better group call experiences, added vaccination locations to help its users, designed a 3-part washable mask to protect its corporate and retail employees and committed donations of more than 15 million dollars to global Covid-19 response . They even diversified some of their mannufacturing to India — taking a leap of faith many companies would hesistate to even think about given the circumstances that prevailed in their other manufacturing locations.
Standing neck by neck with Apple, this tech giant has made the society dependent on itself not since yesterday for years now. The mission for the company seems to be making the world better every waking day. Maps, YouTube, Search, Payments, Docs, Mail, Meet, Chat, Classroom — we are forever surrounded by Google in all or most we do.
With its worldwide dominance over internet search, ads and YouTube increasing multifold during the pandemic, profits doubled to a record $17Bn in the first quarter of 2021 and valuations were pushed to top $1.6 Trillion for the first time — only leaving Apple, Amazon and Microsoft more valuable than the Global Internet Giant.
But with Google, the success is well-deserved and ultra-inclusive.
The level of activity step-up at Google was at par with most governments fighting the disease on the ground. They set up a 24-hour incident response team to stay in sync with the World Health Organization, developed the contact tracing App with Apple to help alert users on Exposure to the virus and came up with Sodar — a social distancing app that uses Augmented Reality to visualize government-issued guidelines in one’s vicinity. Google’s Education Tools like Workspace for Education, Classroom, YouTube Learn at Home, Teach from Home hub enabled kids to stay home safe and continue learning. Virtual field trips through Google Arts, a National Response portal, a ScamSpotter programme, an Anxiety Self-assessment tool — the innovations just kept coming.
Amazon
As world leaders ordered their citizens indoors, Amazon became the emergency port of call for those desperate to stock up on vital household goods — a rush that led the company to temporarily shut its warehouses to “non-essential” products. Record revenues followed, but also soaring costs.
Chief executive Jeff Bezos warned as much as $4bn could be spent on virus mitigation, such as testing labs and thermal cameras — potentially pushing Amazon into its first quarterly loss since 2015. Still, the accelerated shift to online shopping and the increased importance of its cloud computing business in the remote work era drove Amazon’s stock to all-time highs.
Simply brilliant ideas like coordinating with local municipalities to deliver goods in containment zones, hiring temporary workers to fulfil last mile deliveries, the scaled-up content on its entertainment segment Prime, the idea of the Covid supplies Store for businesses helped the world’s no. 1 e-commerce website take its parent business’ networth to $1.6 Tn and its founder Jeff Bezos’ personal wealth to an unfathomable $190 bn.
While everything it did, helped its businesses in turn — some things were done with pure heart
Setting up on-site vaccination clinics for employees, giving an extra bonus to those got vaccinated, airlifting medical supplies to regions that needed it the most using its effective last-mile delivery capabilities, there were a few non-business efforts done. One could say, not enough but hey, these were the guys who kept our homes filled with grocery, our businesses running on a cloud and our television sets filled with content — their business model is all the help we needed nonetheless this pandemic.
4. Microsoft
Teams became a way for employees to stay in touch. Azure became the digital backbone for companies suddenly grappling for a work-from-home solution. Xbox Live entertained us as we stayed home and sought a way out, albeit virtually.
In a world increasingly dependent on a cloud to keep it going, Microsoft’s shift under Satya Nadella brought it back to its pole position, this time via remote working.
As one of the companies nearing a $2 Trillion valuation, the software giant continued to display its humane side like it always has. A conscientious founder who was initially accused of manufacturing the coronavirus to depopulate the planet and then raked over the coals for an unanticipated divorce with long-time spouse Melinda, Bill Gates has had an eventful pandemic.
But that hasn’t stopped Microsoft from being the community-helper that it always has been.
From leading efforts of detecting the COVID19 virus early with its ImmuneRACE clinical study, to return-to-workplace frameworks, cloud based auction systems for tea dealers, self-screening tools like PlasmaBot and regular supply of funds to innovation at educational institutions — Microsoft has been at the forefront of “giving” more to the world every day.
Reaching medical supplies to resource-starved countries, setting up community vaccination clinics onsite, providing free access to Microsoft teams for government staff seemed like the regular stuff that Microsoft was doing without fanfare.
Samsung
From Semi-conductors to electronic appliances and mobile phones, Samsung is a Korean behemoth following the tagline of its Galaxy Phones to the moon and back- “DO WHAT YOU CAN’T”. At $62 Billion of valuation, Samsung has continued to impact the world’s business for over 4 decades now.
It is not only one of the world’s largest producers of electronic devices and the second largest chip manufacturer after Intel, but it also owns some of the most tech-forward brands in the global space — like Harman, AdGear, LoopPay and Nexus. It is as if they are always thinking 20 years ahead of their time. Some of its older rivals like Apple and the newer ones like Xiaomi have always been on their toes with its future-forward strategies and these Covid years have been no different.
As we sat at home, glued to our phones, Television sets, tabs and wearables — market leader Samsung’s share prices went up almost 50% (at the time of writing this) in the past year.
And what good has its Technology-forward thinking done us in the pandemic?
While their all-important chip manufacturing business hit a roadblock due to shutdowns all over the world, their CSR initiatives didn’t stop. The supply of LDS (low Dead Space) syringes to Governments for vaccination, revamping production lines under its Biologics to manufacture vaccines in their home country South Korea, flying in essentials to Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in India — Samsung did try to make some efforts to help its fellow citizens.
They established regional response teams around the world to provide their employees with resources and updates on the latest guidelines from health authorities. They also restricted business travel to only mission-critical journeys and strongly advised employees to work from home where possible, in the process closing some of their facilities and stores to support social distancing efforts.
2. Serving the valued customers and partners: they are providing online support at samsung.com with round-the-clock customer care to their customers and partners.
From donating smartphones to patients in quarantine and tabs to schoolchildren to providing support online with round-the-clock customer care, Samsung was making business and care combine in a rare manner.
6. Coca-Cola
If you collected up every Sars-CoV-2 virus particle in the world, it would fit inside a soft drinks can.
Christian Yates.
As consumers continued to keep away from restaurants, concerts, sports events, movie screenings and the like — the ‘away-from-home’ beverage Coke took a hit. Its arch-rival PepsiCo is more diversified but for Coca-Cola, the core business of ‘Opening Happiness’ was not happening anymore. But they were resilient enough to hold on — by cutting costs and quickly taking advantage of easing lockdowns before the second wave took over. In 2020, the brand that was valued at $84 billion dollars had some serious soul-searching to do.
But it also had some serious brand building to carry forward — after all, its advertising strategy is the primary reason why the Coca-Cola brand is so successful and recognizable across the globe.
Flying down oxygen concentrators to India, distributing free ration kits to the poor and underprivileged and sponsoring free beverages at vaccination centres for frontline workers serving the community in dry heat — Coca Cola did try to Open Happiness for some surely.
A prime initiative supported by the company, WASH took precedence in Covid — Reliable access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene became an absolute imperative for the people to save themselves from the virus and who better could understand this than the company whose existence is water-based.
7. Toyota
Known for providing convenience, safety and comfort for their customers, the brand Toyota almost represents reliability for its patrons. With a brand value of $59 billion, Toyota focused on innovative strategies and curtailed expenses to pull through Covid times.
Kaizen, one of the core principles of Toyota, and their belief that there is ‘Always a Better Way’ has helped one of the largest automobile companies in the world to stay relevant and focused — even during dropping sales numbers and tumultuous supply chain constraints. The basic output of office work may be ambiguous, but with adaptability and nimble-footedness at their core — they are reconsidered EVERYTHING to increase efficiency including reviewing processes from the ground up within a simple framework: “discard, replace, or continue.”
They have manufacturing expertise for decades and what better way to contribute to society in these times by leveraging this exact USP:
Manufacturing face shields, foot operated sanitizer stands, refrigerated vehicles for vaccines and emergency mobility vehicles for medical facilities was a brilliant way of extending expertise in building durable equipment to a Covid-hit population , reaching oxygen concentrators where needed, vaccination drives for employees and their families was all about starting good work at home, first.
The Kokoro Hakobu Project (That literally means carry one’s heart in Japanese) was conceptualized during the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake — it was a string of initiatives taken by Toyota at the time to help employees, suppliers, and the nation at large in the wake of a natural disaster. The same project was revived again in Covid and this time, was coined as a moniker for all ways combined in which Toyota group companies were helping the world fight the pandemic.
8. Mercedez Benz
Name the word ‘luxury’ and a rare chance is that ‘Mercedes-Benz’ would not come to your mind. One of the most reputed and respected brands for almost a century, with almost a $60Bln Valuation, Mercedes-Benz stands for class, elegance and comfort for its user.
Call them opportunists if you may but what good is a business to the society if it cannot protect its own self from damage in a crisis. Mercedes-Benz did exactly that — it covered its own backyard first. They launched the A-class limousine and SUV Maybach in India to keep the brand name running and relevant, announced the AMG variant to dominate the new car launches in the country and for existing customers extended warranty and free service to tide over pandemic blues. They wanted to sell 50 cars somehow by the end of 2021 at $400000 a pop — they ended up selling these in a month. The rich will be rich and they need their toys!
And then came service to the society, Mercedes-Benz style….
Manufacturing of life saving equipment like ventilator masks and PPE which is completely off its primary business was taken up. The Mercedez Benz stadium in Atlanta was thrown open as a vaccination site offering everyone above 12 years of age free vaccine and free parking.
Funding local health infrastructure campaigns, procuring oxygen concentrators to supply to states within their tie-up were some of the other smaller initiatives taken by the luxury carmaker.
9. McDonald’s:
A valuation of $160 billion, McDonald’s meals and profits have both been ‘Happy’ for over 6 decades now. It is surprising how one of the oldest Quick Service Restaurant companies in the world continues to keep reinventing itself and maintaining relevance amongst its patrons year-after-year. We mean, a BTS Meal named after the widely popular Korean band, seriously?? You would wonder what a nine-chicken-nugget-two-sauce-medium-fries-drink meal has to do with a crooning boy band — but McDonald’s seems to have a finger on the pulse of its consumers — no matter how old or young — making it one brand that remains loved by generations.
Relentless advertising, food items priced at reasonable values for every geography, consistent customer service and quality and ofcourse, innovation that doesn’t stop keeps McDonald’s up there on its customers’ minds.
One of the world’s largest employers, McDonald’s has done its positioning right — pandemic or no pandemic….
Special deals for patrons if they are vaccinated, donations to the Red Cross, inoculation drives benefitting more than 15000 employees across countries like India, consumer-behaviour impacting exercises like changing coffee cups to say “we can do this”, McDonald’s tried to do its bit as business suffered due to lockdowns worldwide. Their take-away, drive-through and and delivery services kept customers safe at home with their favourite meals delivered to their doorstep throughout the pandemic.
Not much we would say, but the QSR-king kept the employment numbers running and perhaps, that was one of its largest contributions to workers in over 100 countries in these times.
10. The Walt Disney Company:
Disney as it is popularly known amongst kids and adults alike, holds the rights to not only some of the most popular cartoon characters as one would imagine, but also major brands in the entertainment industry. HBO, Cinemax, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars Franchise, ESPN, History channel, Pixar -At one point if you were to look carefully, you would realise that actually Disney almost owns EVERYTHING!
No wonder the its market capitalization has swelled to $322 Billion in 2021 despite the pandemic reigning through the world.
While the theme parks were shut and movie theatres were the last priority to be reopened after a lockdown, its Linear Networks like ESPN, National Geographic, Direct-to-Consumer segments like Disney+hotstar, Star+ and content sales and licensing kept the fire burning for Disney. Perhaps ruthless business policy also came in handy — Disney laid off about 32000 employees most of whom were working in the Theme Parks and experiences segments to keep non-functional businesses afloat.
Want to enter the world of Disney without a mask? Get vaccinated….
Kids and Young adults are most important to Disney’s business model and pushing them to be vaccinated so they could roam mask-free and social-distancing-regulation free around the parks and cruise-liners was Disney’s way of saying ‘we care’. As billions of us sat at home, Disney through its multiple lines of entertainment franchises and streaming businesses, kept us glued to our screens somehow away from the grim reality of the outside world.
But all was not business in the Disney dreamworld — excess food inventory from theme park kitchens that were anycase running shut was donated to area food banks, rain ponchos and N95 masks, gloves, gowns, medical supplies were donated to medical centres. Lets just say they did what they could. Not as much as one would expect from a company who draws business straight from the consumer, but well, that’s the face behind the mask that entertains.
Strong recall values, powerful USPs, distinictive personalities and ofcourse consistency in design and deliverability are what make a brand successful across geographies and timelines. Ofcourse the have picked their markets right to begin with, but as they became successful in local models, these brands went above and beyond their initial goals of building sustainbale businesses and making money for themselves and their stakeholders.
While a lot of them do realise that they are now transcending the fine line between being a commercial entity and a societal impact organization, some continue to keep their goals minimalistic and focused despite political and social pressures. Neither is wrong. A business that does not know how to hold its own helm steady in rough waters, cannot make any contrinbutions to a society-at-large — it is as oxymoronic as a homeless man declaring philanthropic intentions.
But it isn’t easy for them to dodge their gloval responsibility — especially in the face of a ntarual calamity or a biological one that we are grappling with at the moment. Their offices, employees, cutomers, service centres scattered all over the world compel them to raise themselves beyond self-serving actions and utilise their well-earned global resource grids for the benefit of humanity — the same people who have made them who they are today.
And who better than them to pull us out of this predicament — they are after all the perfect examples of valour and survival against all odds. Lets hope that with their ability to connect with millions, their astute undertsnading of aspirations trascendign nationality/race/gender/age, their learnings from pivoting out of the worst downturns through history and their propensity to make every penny count; they unite their efforts and action the grand plan of stitching normalcy back for humankind.
Be audacious, be bold, and be unreasonable.
You have the technology, the capital, the skills and the resources needed to address the biggest social challenges of our time. There has never been a better time to be a social innovator than right now — the need for your creations is right now.
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We can be reached at assist@dais.world for thoughts, feedback, and suggestions.
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