Innovation and Change During a Global Pandemic INTRODUCTION
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THE LAUDER GLOBAL BUSINESS INSIGHT REPORT | 2021 Innovation and Change During a Global Pandemic INTRODUCTION THE LAUDER GLOBAL BUSINESS INSIGHT REPORT 2021 Innovation and Change During a Global Pandemic The global coronavirus pandemic has left nothing unchanged. From the mundane activities of daily life to the lofty, long-term goals of governments, the outbreak has altered plans for everyone and everything in its path. The students at the Joseph H. Lauder Institute for Management & International Studies have not been immune to the disruption. For years, this report has been the result of months of work from students who immerse themselves in an intensive course in their program of concentration, then follow up with field study that takes them to various parts of the world. But the pandemic halted travel and pushed classes online. And the students, much like the nations and people they studied, learned to rise to the challenge. Without the option of field study, the students conducted interviews via phone and video with experts and sources who described what they could not witness for themselves. Without a physical classroom, they used every digital tool available to collaborate on their articles, learning to work together in the new normal created by the disease. Their efforts reflect a microcosm that is being repeated in grand scale around the world. Across Latin America, entrepreneurs quickly realized that the seismic shift to online shopping during the pandemic presented unique opportunities to grow their businesses. In India, the economic devastation wrought by the pandemic is reshaping the automotive and public transportation industries in the world’s second-most populous nation. The pandemic is also revealing the inequality gap in sharp relief, raising questions about how governments around the globe provide public education, invest in infrastructure and choose their economic priorities. There are bright spots amid the COVID-19 death and despair. China’s youth are leading the way in esports, which are proving to be the games of the future. Consumers are using their purchasing power to transform whole industries, including alcoholic beverages in Europe and Russia, fashion in sub-Saharan Africa and plant-based protein in the United States. And restless entrepreneurs are flourishing against the family- owned conglomerates of South Korea. Nelson Mandela, a man who was well-acquainted with hardship and adversity, said, “It always seems impossible until it is done.” The world will emerge from the grip of the pandemic, perhaps forever changed. In the meantime, innovation continues because the human spirit endures. Knowledge@Wharton | The Lauder Global Business Insight Report | 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC COVID-19’s Impact on Transportation in India ................................................................................................ 2 The Pandemic’s Effect on Sustainable Innovation in the EU ........................................................................ 6 The Unequal Effects of COVID-19 on Global Public Education ................................................................10 The Impact of COVID-19 on Infrastructure Investments in Latin America .............................................14 NEW MARKETS AND INNOVATION In a League of its Own: China Takes the Lead in Esports .............................................................................17 The Duopoly of Luxury Fashion in Africa ........................................................................................................21 The Rise of the Plant-based Protein Industry .................................................................................................25 The Future of the World’s Factory ....................................................................................................................29 Modern Vodka: Has Russia Missed Its Shot? ..................................................................................................33 Tesla in China .........................................................................................................................................................37 A Different Pour: How Consumers Are Changing the Wine Industry .......................................................41 ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CAPITALISM Digital Health in Latin America: Opportunities and Challenges for Telemedicine ................................44 Latin America’s Hypergrowth Startups ............................................................................................................47 South Korea’s Startup History ............................................................................................................................50 Limitations to Financing in Africa: A Two-tiered Perspective .....................................................................53 How the COVID-19 Pandemic Catapulted Delivery Apps in Latin America ...........................................57 Current Challenges and the Future of E-commerce in Africa .....................................................................61 POLITICS AND POLICIES The Clash Between Norway’s Climate Goals and Economy .......................................................................65 Can West Africa Achieve Economic Independence from France? .............................................................69 The Evolution of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Africa .........................................................................73 The Price of Protest: A Case Study of Chile and Colombia .........................................................................77 Innovation and Change During a Global Pandemic 1 THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC COVID-19’s Impact on Transportation in India This article examines the economic forces that are shaping the automotive and mobility industries in India, which were hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The global coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating Unemployment shot up from 6.7% in mid-March 2020 to impact on India, resulting in more than 20 million 26% in April 2020, resulting in 140 million people losing confirmed infections and nearly 220,000 deaths by early their livelihood. Thousands of migrant workers had to head May 2021. Ranked by the World Bank as the fifth-largest back to their hometowns in light of a complete economic economy in the world at $2.83 trillion GDP in 2019, standstill. The Hindu newspaper reported that the Indian India was optimistically projected to grow to $5 trillion economy was expected to lose over $4.5 billion every day GDP by 2024. However, the World Bank noted that the during the first 21 days of the lockdown, with less than a economy was going through a pre-pandemic slowdown quarter of the country’s economy being functional. India is a manufacturing hub because of cheap labor “Even before the pandemic, the costs and the availability of raw material. The automotive industry is the fourth-largest in the world and accounts mobility sector in India had been for $250 billion. From March 2020 to May 2020, major facing limited growth.” automotive companies including TATA Motors, Ashok Leyland and Mahinda had to shut down operations during four lockdowns. Supply chains were put under severe that is now exacerbated by more than a year of COVID-19. stress, and future projections were bleak. The financial implications have been so detrimental that, according to the Indian Ministry of Statistics, the country’s Even before the pandemic, the mobility sector in India growth in Q4 (Jan-Mar) 2020 plunged to an unexpectedly had been facing limited growth. Statista’s data for 2018 to low level of 3.1%. In the following quarter, the economy 2019 motor vehicle show that sales fell by approximately shrunk by 24%, compared with the same quarter in the 14%, from an all-time high of 4.4 million units to 3.8 million previous year. the next year. According to a June 2020 McKinsey study, 2 Knowledge@Wharton | The Lauder Global Business Insight Report | 2021 multiple factors contributed to that drop, including lack follows, we will deep dive on how ride-share and food of consumer liquidity and higher vehicle prices. These delivery are impacting India’s future of mobility. numbers further decreased at the onset of 2020, with sales of passenger vehicles and two-wheelers falling by 18%. The Ups and Downs of Ride-sharing The COVID pandemic has exacerbated this matter While travel demand in India increased drastically over the significantly. The focus on social distancing and self- past few decades — driven by an increase in wealth and isolation has created a large dent in the shared mobility population — Indian public transportation hasn’t developed spaces, including public transport and newer modes such as quickly. The result is high levels of congestion, upwards as digital ride-hailing. An assessment by the Organisation of 150% more compared with other Asian countries. for Economic Co-operation and Development of the As such, technologists, operators and policymakers are impact on the transportation sector revealed that the coordinating efforts to push the mobility sector in India, suburban rail ridership plummeted from 13 million daily particularly with ride-share and food delivery. COVID-19 passengers to almost none during the lockdown period, has adversely impacted India’s rideshare and food delivery while bus transport traffic fell from 70 million to 4 million industry, driving demand to an all-time bottom. daily passengers. The business side