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Post-crisis China will focus on public health and welfare. Business should be prepared for a sea change
- In the wake of the Covid-19 epidemic, China will want to radically improve its public health system and better integrate it into its smart networks, even as society explores new ways of remote working
- Businesses can expect many radical new opportunities, especially in health care and distributed working technologies
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As the humanitarian cost of the coronavirus epidemic mounts, economic casualties are also surfacing throughout China. More than 48 cities have issued lockdown policies, and businesses have had to repeatedly postpone the return to work following the Lunar New Year holiday.
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The economic impact is estimated to far surpass that of the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak, given China’s greater integration in the global value chain.
The outbreak is also revealing long-standing societal problems. Many crucial gaps that have been exposed need to be filled urgently. Governmental institutions will be focusing on improving China’s entire public agenda, and not only one or two areas.
The coronavirus crisis will reshape China in a few dimensions. First, its governance system is set to become more transparent and accountable. Over the past 40 years, China has unconsciously evolved into a three-layer development model to back continued economic success.
At the top, the central government sets the national agenda, providing clear directions for the rest of the country. At the grass-roots level, fast-growing and highly dynamic entrepreneurs drive China’s growth and innovation.
In the middle, local governments compete and cooperate with each other to form regional clusters, while serving as the “glue” between the central government and grass-roots businesses.
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