Big Industry Comes Through In Battle vs. COVID-19

In 9 bulleted news points, here’s what C-suite leaders are doing to help Americans survive WWC – the global coronavirus crisis.

With the relentless attacks that Big Banks, Big Pharma, Millionaires and Billionaires and the capitalism-driven U.S.-based C-suites have taken from Democratic presidential primary candidates during the past six months, it’s good to see Big Industry respond in the past 10 days or so to minimize the harsh economic reality the world is facing for the unforeseeable future.

That’s the opinion of Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel and others during the past week.

• Aside from many taking pay cuts or forgoing pay altogether, CEOs of many large companies, and professional sports team owners, have stepped up in generous and creative ways. NHL and NBA team owners, such as Washington’s Ted Leonsis, are paying stadium employees for NHL and NBA games that have been cancelled.
• Big Pharma is leaving much of government-run health care in the dust when it comes to creating test kits (yes, this has taken longer than most would have hoped, and being caught off-guard when addressing a major global crisis is not a good look for any country of our stature). No fewer than 30 biotech firms are rapidly advancing work toward vaccines.
• Many in Big Manufacturing have re-steered their focus, moving away from their customary products such as cars (Ford and GM) to examine ways they can work toward creating ventilators, masks and other much needed medical supplies to assist overcrowded hospitals and overtaxed hospital staff. This is a result, in part, from President Trump invoking the Defense Protection Act, created in 1950 in the name of supporting national defense.
• Big Luxury hotels are being converted into makeshift quarantine shelters. Perfume companies (Christian Dior) are producing hand sanitizer. At Tesla, which builds vehicles using a sophisticated air-filter system, could soon also join the ranks of hospital ventilator manufacturers.
• In Big E-Commerce, those mail-order meals companies such as Freshly, Hello Fresh, Blue Apron and others are focused on supporting meals for Meals on Wheels. Freshly and Nestle this week reportedly donated $500,000 to the national program… And just when you thought the idea of receiving food in a box through the mail was absurd, that business is looking quite the visionary given today’s lock-down environment.
• Sure, most of us are stuck with high service bills from our wireless and fiber companies, but at least during this unprecedented economic crush, Verizon and Sprint are guaranteeing to keep its customers online regardless of whether they can pay their bills.
• In Big Banks, Bank of America is allowing some customers to request to defer payments on financial products such as mortgage loans and credit cards as part of the bank’s assistance program for consumers and small business impacted by the coronavirus.
• Dunkin Brand Groups are easing royalty and advertising fee payments for franchisees in the United States and Canada, while McDonald’s Corp is in talks to reduce some payments for franchisees, reports Hilary Russ at Reuters.
• CVS and Walmart are conducting drive-up and drive-thru COVID-19 testing, respectively.

Is the nation rallying around the cause, or is it perpetuating partisan attacks? CNBC’s Joe Kernen this morning appropriately saluted his local grocery store check-out clerks, calling them a new breed of “first-responders.” It’s a welcome gesture.

The efforts, Strassel writes, help to vindicate capitalism, to some degree. Are some of these actions steeped in financial CYA (Cover Your A--) and dripping in public relations sweetness? Sure. But they reflect a far different image than that expressed by “the Left.” For now, it makes you think twice when their leaders, such as Bernie Sanders last week, express that “Americans can’t get the drugs they need because “a bunch of crooks” run drug companies, “ripping us off every single day.” The virus exposes the “cruelty and unjustness” of an economy that allows “big-money interests” and “multimillionaires” to profiteer off “working families,” Strassel writes.

Paul Bergeron, IOM, is a Thought Leadership Executive with nearly 25 years in association communications and publishing strategy, recently spending many years at National Apartment Association in Arlington, Va., and can be reached at pbergeron333@gmail.com.