Abstract

In this paper, we survey the topic of pandemics with specific reference to the Global Corona Virus pandemic which is dubbed COVID-19, and we trace the background of pandemics in the past. Our objective in this paper is to share our experiences as well as to examine the impact of the pandemic on businesses, especially the educational sector, and also on other sectors. In this paper, we take a multidisciplinary approach as well as a compendious approach of surveying a broad swathe of issues. At the same time, we use a narrative approach, providing commentaries and descriptive analysis, and a flashback of history in the literature review. We rely mainly on secondary data for the discussion and analysis as the nature of the topic is still fresh and delicate for us to conduct primary research. Besides, we believe that the problem at hand is on-going, all encompassing, and it may be premature at this stage for us to come to some definitive conclusions. The theoretical model which we use in the analysis is the macro-environmental model which is popularly and variously called the PEST, PESTLE, PESTEL, SLEPT, or STEEPLE model, popular in management studies and used by Social Scientists in their exegesis and discourses. We chose this model because the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on lives around the globe, and it affected every facet of life, hence the need to take a holistic approach that is exploratory, and based on Grounded Theory. Our findings and discussions concentrated on the effects of lockdowns on businesses, especially on the educational sector, as well as on social aspects of following scientific recommendations such as observing social distance, wearing masks, washing hands, avoiding gatherings, and avoiding unnecessary travel. In this paper, we also examined how lecturers’ and students’ work were affected under the circumstances, as well as discussing the novelty ways which lecturers and students adopted to cope with the challenging situation of the new normal. Furthermore, we discussed issues of political leadership, the direction of geopolitics, and general responses to the outbreak of the pandemic. In this paper, we concluded that the disruptive nature of the pandemic had brought about a paradigm shift in the way business is conducted, and challenged people to explore new methods of sustaining themselves, their businesses, their lifestyles, and their jobs. Furthermore, we were bold to make some forecasts, based on historical trends, in order to warn people to be on the alert. We ended the paper by making recommendations to stakeholders and first-line or frontline disaster response agencies and authorities.