Global Events That Affected Business Strategies in the Last Decade

Business Strategies throughout the past century have improved in an impressive way. Especially during the last decade, the way business is done and startups enter the market is rapidly changing. This rapid change, which sometimes happens on a yearly or even monthly basis, is due to major events that take place around the world. Today, the whole world is interconnected due to globalisation. Companies seek to be global companies to gain the highest market share.

Important Definitions

Before we begin listing the main events that changed the shape of business worldwide, let’s review some important definitions.

What is Globalisation?

Globalisation is basically viewing the world as one connected market rather than a separate independent one. To be successful in the era of globalisation, companies have to adapt to different cultures and attain a flexible approach towards updating their companies’ strategies. The risk of entering a global market is high, but the revenues, if success is achieved, are incomparable.

Some of the risks include fast-growing technology that differs from one company to the other, human power and wages rate that affect employment, cultural differences that require extensive market research and adaptation, and political, economic and social changes due to different events that affect the world. The major events, which are the main focus of this article, are interconnected all around the world. What happens in one country affects another in a different part of the globe. Thus, flexibility, adaptation and forecast are essential factors in every global organisation.

What is an event?

An event is an important social, political, educational, scientific, or natural occurrence that happens on a huge scale affecting a wide range of people, either voluntarily or involuntarily. They take place either planned or unplanned, and influence the reaction of affected parties. Thus, they, by definition, affect business, whether in the short-term or the long-term, depending on the type and level of influence this event had on local, international or global markets.

What is a global market share?

It is the company’s percentage of revenue, market cap, total liabilities, total debt, and other indicators compared to other global companies. The US has the largest number of companies in the top 100 companies around the world, according to 2021 statistics. Apple Inc. is on top of the list with a market capitalisation of nearly 2640 billion dollars.

Major Global Events Affecting Global Business During the Past Decade

Sudden global events, whether pandemics, political changes, environmental challenges or social movements, affect the way business works greatly. It is a challenge for business strategists to forecast and adapt accordingly. Let’s review some examples and investigate how they affected business today.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Of course, we were all affected by the 2020 pandemic outbreak. But how did it reshape the way business work?

Just to recap, the pandemic forced the world to stop. People were forced to quarantine and into extreme social distancing behaviours. An atmosphere of fear and uncertainty arose. Companies that were unable to adapt to the new normal way of life were forced to terminate a huge number of employees or even be forced out of business. This caused a global unemployment rate, which added to the life-threatening conditions the people had to endure. 

Being forced to work from home and apply social distancing and sanitising measures, companies were forced to implement new strategies. Companies that were on top of technological advancement and secured the highest revenues and market share managed to survive with recoverable losses. On the other hand, new startups and small organisations suffered. 

Of course, being forced to work remotely proved the ability to do business from the comfort of being at home. Companies realised that the future is working from home, which ultimately reduces costs. 

Developing countries were forced to accelerate their future plans for digital transformation. Egypt, for example, though not ready with capable infrastructure, made an effort for remote access, especially in the education sector. The step was necessary as the decision-makers could not risk putting children in danger, especially amidst the hospital crisis and the unavailable staff and vacant spaces to serve patients.

Expo 2020 Dubai from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022

Expo Dubai is a large international exhibition postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to COVID-19. The exhibition, under the slogan “Connecting minds, creating the future”, was located between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in United Arabs Emirates. It featured more than 192 Pavilions representing different countries. An exhibition that huge had an unprecedented impact on the host country and other beneficiaries’ businesses. Involved expo stand builders constructed attractive, engaging displays for countries and sponsors to maximize participating values. The United Arab Emirates stock market increased due to the number of people visiting the country, reaching over 25 million visitors to the Expo. It is an example of how a properly planned and organised occasion can affect a whole country’s business and market share.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The 17 SDGs goals announced by the UN that focus on three interconnected pillars, Social, Environmental, and Economic, made a huge shift in global business strategies. It is about the responsibility decision-makers, and individuals have towards the environment to save resources for future generations. Going Green is a crucial entity to adhere to in any company. It was a revolutionary agreement as, finally, it was realised that preserving the environment and supporting developing and least developed countries are interconnected and do not only depend on improving the environmental related research and solutions. Because the element of the environment alone only solves one-third of the problem.

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter”

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Brexit

In January 2021, the United Kingdom officially ceased to be one of the European Union countries. As a result, the United Kingdom’s business and trade borders were highly affected. They were forced to follow new rules that were not there before under the European Union’s policy. This created a challenging situation for every affected party inside and outside the UK.

Social Movements 

Social movements addressing human rights related to ethnic background or gender greatly affect the success of any global business. To succeed in a globally based institution, business decision-makers must avoid any controversial or offensive issues addressed worldwide. We find companies regularly announcing their stance for equal chances and unbiased orientation on their different official platforms.

The Black Lives Matters Campaign

One of the most important movements is the 2013 Black Lives Matter Campaign in the United States. The campaign focused on the fight against racism. They voiced their frustration against the injustice inflicted upon black people, especially by the authorities in the United States.

The term began as a social media hashtag that went viral after the death of Trayvon Martin in Florida. Martin was a 17-year-old kid who was shot by a neighbourhood watch volunteer. The campaign attracted lots of supporters after the unjust killing of several black people by policemen in the U.S.

“Me Too” Campaign

Another social movement is the Me Too Campaign, founded by activist Tarana Burke in 2006. It focused on shedding light on the sexual harassment issue and how common and regular it happens.

“When your life is forever changed by sexual violence, where can you turn? Who can help you? What are the words you need to hear most?”

Tarana Burke.

“He for She” Campaign

One final example of a social movement is the He for She campaign, launched in the United States in 2014. The movement focuses on gender rights issues and how inequality actions affect the whole community socially, politically and economically. This movement also adheres to one of the UN SDG goals mentioned in this article.

As seen, building a business strategy for your company has become very challenging. Business owners need to focus not only on business and study markets but also on being updated with recent global events that take place worldwide. Whether these events are political, environmental or social, they have to be taken into consideration to avoid conflict in the market.