The spread of the Coronavirus is slowing down no time soon and with that, many industries are being effected specifically the technology industry which is deeply rooted in china for manufacturing needs.
It has been reported that Apple has seen a decline of sales in China due to the virus outbreak by USA Today. This has lead two questioning manufacturing speed and development ahead of drops of new products for apple. This is in part duet to the fact that people do not want to be in areas where it is easy for the virus to spread which would constitute a factory.
However, Apple does believe that they will be able to stay on track for the release date and keep everything moving smoothing.
What makes this so fascinating is that the spread of a disease can effect things outside of just human bodies. It can effect entire industries and companies. Apple one of the largest technology companies in the world was almost pushed behind schedule for a product release because they were effected by the spread of a disease.
Travel, business as well as technology are all being effected which again is crazy to think about because something so different and generally unrelated can have such a large impact on some of the worlds largest industries.
When there are reports like this it makes me think about how tightly the internet and technology connects us. Without it or with a decline of use or maintenance which is what a massive disease could potentially cause we could be faced with a crash of the internet.
This would cause a shockingly different reality because like we have talked about in class technology and the internet needs to be kept up with and maintained and if no one is there to do it because of disease that could be an issue.
What did this report open your eyes to?
source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/02/17/coronavirus-impact-apple-iphone-se-sequel/4786849002/
The coronavirus caused a huge impact on the economy of China and even the global economy. Apple is just a sample company that is affected by the coronavirus, and there are more industries got affected. For instance, the restaurants and other service-based companies are suffering from paying salaries while they earned nothing during the time of coronavirus outbreaks. Xi Bei, one of the most popular restaurant chains in China went bankrupt since the owner is unable to pay salaries for its employees.
However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. If the restaurant chain that stands on the top of the list went bankruptcy, how long would other business that is relatively weak? If people can not get back to work, there will be a shortage of supplies in China.
Besides, import and export are also negatively impacted by the coronavirus, which means the impact have become worldwide. Moreover, coronavirus also brings up some social issues like discrimination towards people from China. Though the situation is bad, I hope things can get better and the economy can back to the track soon.
Source:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2020/02/06/no-customers-closed-stores-chinese-entrepreneurs-brace-for-the-worst-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/#69f88258644b
I agree that it is fascinating how this disease is not only affecting people, but businesses as well. Along with the disease causing a threat to Apple, it is also affecting Amazon. Amazon is trying to avoid being affected by the coronavirus, but factories in China are continuing to slow down and shut down where many of Amazon’s goods are produced. Amazon has responded by making larger and more frequent orders of Chinese-made products (that have already shipped to the US), and even are having some of its suppliers stop advertising as much and cut back on promotions on the website to try and ensure they do not run out of products too quickly. Amazon in particular is prone to feel potential shortages of goods compared to other companies because of its approach to inventory called “lean inventory”. This approach lets the company run more efficiently (in good times) by keeping fewer items on hand- avoiding tying up money to buy and store products that are waiting to be sold. On the other hand, in a crisis like we are currently in where production in China is disrupted, this approach makes Amazon prone to shock. As time goes on and the coronavirus remains uncontained, Amazon is already beginning to worry about inventory for events like Prime Day, even though the sale does not take place until midsummer. Before reading your post and the article “Clicking Buy on Amazon? It’s trying to Prevent a Coronavirus Caveat” on The New York Times website, I did not even begin to think about the effects it would have on business. Now, I see how worrisome it must be for business’ such as Amazon, since they rely so heavily on China for the production of so many of their products.
Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/business/amazon-coronavirus-supplies.html
It is very unfortunate that this devastating virus has effected not just families but entire industries. Daisuke Wakabayashi’s article in The New York Times says, “Supply is a problem, the company warned, as factories slowly reopen in China, and demand is down, too, with stores there still mostly closed” (Wakabayashi 2020). The virus has effected the company because a lot of China is in lockdown and this is causing the stores to close or not have any visitors. The factories in China are also relied on by many big companies, not just Apple. In the future Apple and other companies should think of other places in the world where they can produce their products as well, so if another outbreak occurs there is an alternate factory. It is important to understand that outbreaks like this are not only effecting communities, but they are effecting the economic growth of companies that many people rely on heavily. I did not think a virus would be able to effect such a huge company like this until reading this blog post. Of course human lives are more valuable than technology, but this is still an important issue.
Wakabayashi, Daisuke. “Apple Warns That Coronavirus Will Hurt Revenue.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Feb. 2020, http://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/technology/apple-coronavirus-economy.html.
This outbreak of the coronavirus has really shown the world how a disease, something natural, can affect other industries. We should take major steps now to try and make sure a disease like this can’t effect the industry so much that it leads companies to bankruptcy because they can’t produce enough products to keep up. With the technological world progressing every day, a hit like this to a company could be a huge detriment. Based on this I believe companies should start to diversify where they produce their products so that if this outbreak doesn’t slow down or if another one comes around, they can continue to produce products for the consumers.