Why "The New Normal" is so challenging. And what you can do to cope better.

So much change in so little time

The world we live and work in has dramatically changed in the last three years. Before the pandemic, who would have thought that we will be restrained from our freedoms and that even - plain and simple – suddenly have to do things! Such as staying home in isolation, not being able to visit family & friends, wearing masks, social distancing, not being able to leave the country, etc. Something unheard of – apart from sometimes having to pay taxes and respect the law – for the individualistic, self-centered, freedom loving generations X, Y, Z, who have never witnessed anything like this in their lives before. As haven't the Baby Boomers either...

COVID at the start of the New Normal

After two difficult years with various COVID waves and lockdowns and yes, mostly thanks to vaccines, many societies seemed to have learned to cope with the virus and that a “New Normal” of private and economic live was finally possible again.

Of course, this very demanding period exposed many incoherencies and vulnerabilities as well as accelerated pending processes and triggered new ones. One of them is the process of digitalization and technological advancements for which COVID proved to be a strong catalyst affecting both individuals and companies in all areas of life, such as work, studies and training, entrepreneurial activities, and more.  

E.g., in a short time, we had to change everything from what we were used to to home office and online. This was in many cases not so easy, but in the long run also brought considerable advantages. Now, with or withoug COVID and lockdowns, home office is a normal part of most office jobs, equally liked by both employers and employees and well-integrated into our work. Looking at this aspect of the New Normal, the option of home and remote work has created a mostly positive, fundamental impact on private and work life, the way we collaborate, and more.

However, many aspects of our lives were negatively affected during the first years of COVID. This included the disruption of supply chains, weaking social cohesion, difficult global collaboration, inflation and much more. And unfortunately, this wasn’t our “New Normal” just yet.

The end of the pandemic was the start to an even more challenging new New Normal

As we all know, after the Beijing Winter Olympics, the war in the Ukraine broke lose. Europe once again had a real war on its territory. This added a new, dire chapter to the “New Normal”, with much impact for the European countries and its people. Devastation in the Ukraine, 10’000s of people dead, millions of refugees, trillions of damages to the country. And of course, also the whole globe was and is negatively affected via the looming recession, the highest inflation in decades and exploding energy prices with the threat of energy shortages during the upcoming winter in Europe. Want more? What about hunger threats in the third world countries or the scary build-up of a new Cold War with a stand-off by two clear blocks represented by - simply speaking - the “democratic world” and the “autocratic regimes”. 

All countries, companies and people are questioning now who their allies are and where in the world they do what with whom. Unfortunately a bit late. As most of all Europe had to realize that maybe its sourcing choices of the past e.g., most prominently medical supplies, energy supply, chips, rare earths and more are becoming a real threat for the economic and personal well-being of the old continent.

What are some of the main opportunities and risks of the New Normal for Switzerland and the CEE countries?

As a summary, the last three years with Covid and the Ukraine War have brought us a New Normal which nobody could have anticipated only a short while ago. A new reality of much, mostly negative change with huge challenges for societies, governments, people and not the least companies.

Change is of course always the source for opportunities and risks alike. Not wanting to go too much into details, examples of opportunities could be:

• Added value and increased productivity thanks to remote work/study
• Creation of new market opportunities, e.g., more nearshoring in CEE
• Overall cost can be improved & sales increased e.g., thanks to remote global division of labor and new technology
• The build-up of more local economic blocks where research, production and consumption takes place creates better, more sustainable processes

 Risks might be:

• Inflation and recession
• Digital transformation reduces human contact and weakens societies
• Replacement of jobs (low and high skill) by technology
• Substitution of well-paid jobs in low-cost countries
• Social unrest, etc.

Why do I write about this topic?

In my role as President and Managing Director of the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland Central Europe, I am almost on a daily basis confronted with how companies deal with this very challenging New Normal. As a private, non-profit organization our most important two goals at SEC are

1. to help improve the relationships between Switzerland and the 17 CEE countries
2. to make our members and partners more successful.

Both imply a profound understanding of what the New Normal is, or might be, and what it means for our stakeholders and our work at the chamber. As I feel that the New Normal is the most important topic currently for our economies and societies, we decided to dedicate our most important event of the year to it.

CEE-Day 2022 - Opportunities and risks for Switzerland and CEE in the New Normal

If you want to hear more about the New Normal, the CEE Day 2022 is your chance! All information and registration here

In brief: On September 1st, at the beautiful Zunfthaus zur Schmiden in Zürich, from 08:30 – 14:00, our speakers will look at the New Normal from various angles.

• E.g. Daniel Kalt, the CIO of UBS regarding economic outlook
• Regine Sauter, Director of the Zürcher Handelskammer , National Councillor FDP and candidate for the Council of States of the Canton of Zurich, regarding Zürich and Switzerland
• Jan Schoch, CEO & Founder of Jangroup AG and former founder of Leonteq, from an entrepreneurial point of view
• Thomas Foerst, Deputy CEO and Head of Export Promotion and External Network, Switzerland Global Enterprise, Carsten Böhler, Head of Acquisition and Infrastructure Projects, SERV and Julia Lipovecz, Director of Swisscham Hungary Swiss-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce from a cross-border business point of view
• Iain Batty and Andreas Köhler, partner and joint partner of CEE commercial practice at CMS regarding investments and the current situation in CEE.
• Edin Dacić, CEO and Founder Daccomet AG, with a second entrepreneurial "success story"

Thanks for your comments, suggestions, likes and forwarding!