Many CEOs are scrambling to respond to urgent questions about how to protect their employees, ensure supply security, mitigate the financial impact, address reputational risks, and navigate market uncertainty, which is driving down demand. Global value chains, which are essential engines of economic development and GDP growth, have traditionally been designed to optimize for cost competitiveness. The coronavirus underlines the need for companies to focus on risk competitiveness as well. According to conservative estimates from Reuters, China’s economic growth is expected to slow to 4.5 percent in the first quarter of 2020—the slowest pace since the 2008 financial crisis and could cost the global economy $1.1 trillion in lost income.
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