We had the pleasure of welcoming Fanny Letier to share on crisis management and preparing for the rebound. Indeed, the rebound is now. We are experiencing a massive shock.

We are talking about an impact of 8% reduction in GDP over the year 2020 in France. You have to absorb this shock, hold on and bounce back.

The Need for Resilience

To do so, first of all, you need to be resilient. Any crisis accelerates the transformations of the competitive landscape and the failures of companies that were weakened before the crisis.

The capacity for resilience depends above all on the pre-crisis situation.

So the question is for you: what are your strengths and weaknesses in the face of this shock?

The major parameters to take into account are:

• Your sectoral exposure: some sectors are more affected than others;
• Your competitive position: how were you positioned before the crisis in terms of digitalization, flexibility, agility...;
• Your cash flow: it's the lifeblood. Companies with a strong cash flow are obviously better positioned. Relationships of trust with bankers and investors are decisive in facilitating the establishment of loans. The continuous flow of information with its financial ecosystem maintained before the crisis makes it possible to speed up the procedures;
• Your leadership: animating social dialogue, staying the course, communicating what we know and what we don't know, being honest about decisions. And cement the company around the rebound project;
• The quality of your corporate governance: it is your compass in bad weather to provide you with useful support, to pivot, to adapt. Use your board to support you and surround yourself;

The winning organizations of the crisis will be:

• Agile organizations (between deconfinement and possible re-confinement);
• Those with a strong corporate culture;
• Those led by leaders who can anticipate the post-COVID world;

We will also have to juxtapose the times. The time is short, that of resilience. The medium term, the time for flexibility and agility.

This long-term vision, the course, which may have to adapt.

Superimposing times is crucial to a successful rebound strategy.

How is this crisis different?

The 2008 crisis was a liquidity crisis and a financial crisis, which left the real economy dry in liquidity. The answers have been responses to competitiveness, sectoral consolidation, and financial restructuring.

The current crisis will require the same responses, and there will again be issues of M&A and financial restructuring.

The economic consequences are unprecedented and will last for a long time. We are only at the beginning. The competitive landscape is going to change dramatically. All are impacted.

But there are other issues. It is a health crisis and a societal crisis. A crisis that affects everyone at their most intimate level and in which individuals will not emerge intact.

International studies show the impact of this crisis on mental health and the taking a step back on personal and societal considerations.

At the company level, one of the major challenges will be to take note of the situation of our employees and to involve them in a project that will give them meaning.

Superimposing times means working on three types of topics in parallel:

- Operational challenges: to survive during the crisis and to be able to get out of the crisis. By making flexibility, by withdrawing as little cash as possible, by adapting to an evolving pace. A value chain approach is needed. Stay in contact with your customers and suppliers. It is necessary to support a collective sector.

- Human challenges: A company with a culture and a strong social bond, a reason for being, will weather the crisis better than others. Are you able to take stock of the psychological health of your employees? We will have to support the return: sanitary arrangements (gels, masks, premises), teleworking arrangements. What are we going to keep from the last few weeks? Give feedback on what you understood about this crisis, the points of attention, the successes to be valued...

Highlight the strength of the collective and above all give the strategic vision! The ability to give meaning to your employees is intrinsic motivation, beyond extrinsic motivation (salaries and benefits). The question of social utility is raised. Answering questions of identity and meaning for employees will give them positive energy.

- Strategic challenges: be aware of the changes! Are you impacted more or less than your competitors, what is your relative position, are there new digital players, is your business model strengthened? Do a real strategic review!

- Reviewing its commercial strategy, its M&A strategy, its positive impact approaches are winning approaches.

More than before, taking into account the major human challenge at work and responding to social inequalities are among the assets of a company. This makes it possible to attract and retain talent, and to strongly engage them in the company.

Impact of megatrends on the post-crisis period and key tips

As for megatrends, they are also impacted. Some are accelerating: digitalization has been propelled, and what took years was done in a few weeks.

Other megatrends are changing. Globalization is in question. There will be an effect on the structuring of supply chains, and some relocations will have to be organized around three main areas:

- US

- Asia

- Europe.

Finally, there are fundamental trends that remain the same, the strongest being people at work. Consideration of major human issues at work continues.

Rely on your board, your strategic committee, or on peer-to-peer exchange communities.

Be on the lookout for what changes in the long and medium term. Develop and reinforce your reason for being. Express it to your employees and your board. Your feedback, your vision for the world of tomorrow and the raison d'être of your company are the 3 key elements for your rebound.