Reconsider your suppliers
The COVID-19 crisis may have highlighted risks in your supply chain. Your suppliers may not have been able to supply what you wanted when you wanted. They may have asked for early payment, or even threatened to cut off supply. Alternatively, they may have been very accommodating and helped your business respond to the crisis. You may have tried out alternative suppliers.
Are your suppliers able to meet the future requirements of your business?
Examples of questions to assist you evaluate your suppliers and future supply risks;
- Are your suppliers recovering?
- Did your suppliers support you throughout the crisis?
- Did your suppliers meet all your needs when you needed them to before the crisis?
- Are your current suppliers able to satisfy your future requirements?
- Have you identified and checked the ability of alternative suppliers to meet your needs?
- Have you renegotiated supply arrangements with current suppliers?
Review your business model and long-term goals
What do you want your business to be after COVID-19? The same as before the crisis, or bigger, smaller or something very different? Before answering that question, look at your strengths and weaknesses; and assess your opportunities and threats against external factors such as political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental.
Before answering that question, consider whether:
- your strength, weakness, opportunities and threats have shifted
- your current business model is still sustainable and the business goals are realistic
- your current customer base is intact and your target market is realistic
- you can improve how your business performs
- you need to change your business model altogether to survive and thrive.