It has passed almost 76 years since the last world conflagration. The events of the second world war are still fresh in our memories. The competition between nations and the desire to extend the sphere of influence has resulted in many cases in wars. Are we close to the next world war? How the next world might look? These are the few questions we should ask.
The United States and China are the main economic powers but between these countries, a fight for supremacy began. In the last years, China has increased military build-up in South Pacific. They claim vast territories from the Pacific, have territorial disputes with Philipines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
The aggression actions against Taiwan have increased in the last years. Their actions are not against neighbors countries, are directed to challenge the US dominance in the Pacific. Can this become the outcome of the next world war?
A book that I found interested is "2034 -The novel of the next war" written by Admiral James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman. In this book, the authors present how a hypothetical war might look between China and US. Admiral Jim Stavridis (ret) was a Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and commanded US southern fleet.
The events in the book, how Stavridis revealed starts with the sinking of Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer " John Paul Jones" the pride of US navy and vessels "Carl Levin" and "Chung Hoon " by the Chinese Navy after the US navy seize the Chinese spy ship "When RUI".
What is important to remember is that according to Stavridis the Chinese outclassed the US military in cybersecurity and cyber warfare hacking the American information and communication systems.
At this stage of the war, the Americans were incapable of organizing centralized self-defense. It seems that regulation that resulted in many innovations and economic strength become US weakness.
The US response is prompt, the unthinkable happens a nuclear war between the two countries. On 27 June 2034 US launch a 150 kiloton bomb on the province Zhanjiang. In response to this China launched a nuclear strike against "San Diego" and "Galveston". The war finished after the US nukes Shanghai a city with a population of 33 million people.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this book for those who want to discover who the next world war might look. I hope that the events presented by Stavridis in his book will be hypothetical and never happen.
One book that I had on my reading list is "Sapiens" written by Yuval Noah Harari. I was intrigued by the evolution of the human species from its inception to the present and how the future might look.
Humans are by far the most advanced and intelligent species that live on Earth. The evolution of humans started million years ago. It is amazing to see how humans evaluated from a primitive form of life to the absolute supreme species of this planet.
There are two theories about the evolution of humans :
1) Creation
2) Evolution
The first theory claim that human is the result of the creation by a divine force. The second theory which is emphasized in the book presents that humans are ancestors of Homo Sapiens. We can argue that we (humans) are the outcome of a blind evolution process that operates without goal and purpose.
One factor that had contributed decisively to the evolution of humans from the evolution from a primitive form of Apes to lead the world is Cognitive Revolution.
Important facts to remember that emphasize the evolution of homo sapiens about 2.5 million years ago men and women's brain was about 600 cubic centimeter. Today modern sapiens have a brain between 1200-1400 cubic centimeters.
Homo Sapiens brain accounts for 2-3% of the total body weight which consumes 25 % of the body energy. On the other hand, Apes brains consume only 8% of their energy.
The evolution of humans is amazing but at the same time, we have many reasons to worry. If at the beginning total population was about few thousands today is more than 7 billion and is forecast to hit 9 billion by 2050. Facing this situation humans have to solve many problems starting with the environment, food, and so on.
In conclusion, I highly recommend "Sapiens" to have a clue of the evolution of Humankind.
They said that big fortunes are made by families and transmitted from generation to generation among families members. A book that applies this rule is Master of the Game, written by Sidney Sheldon.
The story of the book is about the Blackwell family and the Kruger Brent Company. Over the years the Kruger Brent becomes one of the biggest companies in the world, a multi-million dollar business conglomerate. If I have to find an analog today it will be Berkshire Hathaway.
The analogy with Berkshire Hathaway stops here. The Kruger Brent has another story, a story about greed, betrayal, suspense, and murder.
Master of the Game can easily be considered a drama book. The Kruger Brent company was founded by Jamie Mcgregor a Scottish who had the desire to become rich by trying his luck in South Africa to find diamonds. The key player in this story is Kate the daughter of Jamies who later becomes Mis Blackwell after married David Blackwell.
Kate Blackwell was behind the success of Kruger Brent, she builds a financial empire, she sacrifices everything around her even the life of his son Tony Blackwell who later become isolated into an asylum, for the sake of his company.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this book is full of suspense and action.
"Il Capo dei Capi" is the movie that presents the life of the Salvatore Riina. After I've seen this movie, I was curious to discover more about the life of Salvatore Riina.
One opportunity was to read the book "The Life of the Infamous Toto Riina by Attilio Bolzoni and Giuseppe D'avanzo.
Salvatore Riina aka "U Curtu " or "The Beast" was one of the prominent leaders of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. Born in Corleone Sicily the son of Giovanni Riina. After his father's death, he becomes in charge of the family affairs being the family's old brother.
From a young age, he started his criminal activity together with his friends: Bernardo Provenzano, Calogero Bagarella under the supervision of Leggio Luciano. In a short period, the coreleonesi gang controlled al Corleone after they killed Dr. Michele Navara.
The peasants from Corleone wanted more, they weren't happy with the control of their local town, they wanted Palermo and all of Sicily. With patience, cleverness, ferocity, and murder they controlled the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.
Salvatore Riina will remain in the history of Cosa Nostra who started a bloody war against the state. Victims of their ferocious actions were other leaders of Mafia-like: Bontate, Inzerillo , Busceta, police officers, magistrates, prosecutors like Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino, and many more.
In conclusion, I recommend this book to discover more about the life of Salvatore Riina.
It passed a while since I wrote my last article. We are in a full Covid-19 Pandemic, many countries are in lockdown, many businesses are forced to close their operations only essential businesses are open.
It is a tough, difficult, and challenging period for many businesses. In today's article, I will present my personal solutions for industries and businesses that is been affected most by Covid-19.
The level of the impact differs from industry to industry, from businesses to businesses. If some industries are badly affected some industries less or even become more prosperous.
I will analyze only the industries that are most affected by Covid19.
As you can see in the image above the S&P Global Market Intelligence has done research on the industries that are most affected by Covide 19. The most affected industries are airlines, leisure, oil and gas, auto parts& Equipment, and Restaurants.
In this article, we analyze and come out with solutions in my view only the industries that are affected most. The industries that I will choose for this topic are Retail, Food, and Beverage, Hospitality Industry, and Travel Industry. So let's get dive into it
1 Retail Industry
(Retail Shops, Shops, Non-essential shops)
The retail industry is one of the industries that is affected by Covid-19 restrictions. The truth is those essential businesses are affected less than non-essential. Non-essential businesses are forced to close due to restrictions. For those businesses, the only helping solutions came from the Government. The Government provides Covid19 pandemic payments. The level of the payment differs from the size of the businesses and in which country the businesses are based.
My solution
If you are the owner of the shop who does not get any pandemic payment, the online solution to keep alive your business is to Go Online.
Going Online means the first start building a digital asset. The most important digital asset for every business is the website. My suggestion is: if your business does not have a website, I suggest to create a platform where you can sell your products. If your businesses have a website and do not convert, my advice is to update and optimize existing content. Social Media platforms are also ideal for promoting your business online. Here are some recommendations I don't go too deep on how to do digital marketing.
2 Food and Beverage
We can include this category businesses like restaurants, pubs, night clubs, and coffee shops.
Restaurants
Like many other businesses, restaurants are one of the businesses that are most affected by Covid 19.
My Solutions:
Managing this kind of business on Covid-19 Pandemic differ from the level of restrictions from country to country. If for example, your business is operating in a country where the government has eased some restrictions, a restaurant business can operate under normal conditions, but keeping social distance.
If your restaurant business is facing severe restrictions and can not operate under normal conditions, the only solution is to change the business model and transform it into a Food Delivery Business.
The transition from a restaurant to a food delivery business can be done. In the lockdown period, many restaurants have transformed into a food delivery business with success.
Pubs
The situation with pubs is a bit different from restaurants. If in some countries pubs remain closed during the Covid19 restrictions in some countries when the government ease restrictions let the pubs open for businesses. The only source for pubs to survive, like in restaurants cases are government payments. However, is a big difference in selling alcohol under-delivery business is prohibited in many countries. We took out this solution from the equation.
My Solutions:
Selling Stuff Online
When I say "selling stuff online" I don't mean alcohol as you probably think. Pubs are places designed for selling alcohol. Pubs have different characteristics and traditions from country to country. One example that I have in mind are Irish pubs. Irish pubs are promoters of Irish traditions, they promote the culture, music, and lifestyle of Ireland.
A business like this can take advantage of that by trying to promote traditions, culture, and lifestyle instead of selling alcohol. Temple Bar is a well know place in Dublin where you can find famous pubs.
If you are a pub owner you can try something to keep your businesses by selling different souvenirs online.
VR and Augmented Reality
In full Covid-19 Pandemic with many restrictions imposed by governments, creating a virtual world is the only solution that seems it will work, excepting social distancing that I have some doubts about the efficiency. VR technologies are in the early stage of development. I consider those technologies will have a huge impact on the near future.
From a pub business perspective creating a virtual world where you can feel and live the sensation of an Irish pub. Imagine what feeling you will have to be in a virtual world that replicates exactly The Temple Bar with traditional Irish music.
To be feasible first you need to be able to develop a Virtual Reality application, that can be accessed from a headset.
3 Hospitality Industry
In the hospitality industry, we can include businesses like: (Hotels, Resorts, Hostels and so on)
Is one of the industries that is been hit by the Covid19 Pandemic. Despite the introduction of restrictions, these businesses are still open for businesses. However, even if the businesses are open their profit margin is severely impacted. What can be done in this case? The answer not to many options. Even the options are few, I believe we should exploit them.
My Solutions:
Food Delivery Businesses
A hotel from example can easily transform the business model in food delivery businesses. In general, hotels provide food for their existing customers. I don't see any reasons why a hotel can not be converted to a delivery food business.
Selling Souvenirs Online
You can find hotels everywhere in the world. If you are based in a country that has traditions why you don't try to promote and sell it. Creating an online platform where you can sell different souvenirs that are representative of your country is a good solution. You might say: Well The income that you can get from selling these souvenirs will be enough to cover operating costs?
The answer is no, but I remember you that this kind of business is still open. So you can get an important percentage of your turnover from bookings.
VR & Augmented Reality
This kind of application can help to improve the user experience. I will give an example, Imagine you are a US citizen and want to book a hotel in Ireland Dublin. The person that is interested in making the booking can feel the experience of the hotel in a virtual world. If he likes the experience the probability to make the booking will be higher.
4 Travel Industry
The travel industry is big and includes many types of businesses. I will take only a few types of businesses. The businesses that I will choose will be Travel Agencies and Cruise Shipping Line.
Cruise Shipping Line
One of the industries that were hit badly by Covid19. It was sad to see companies that are liquidated and no longer exist and ships that are dismantled. I have friends that are working in the industry and I know how sad they are about this situation. For a cruise shipping line business there are not too many solutions that can be implemented to keep the business alive.
My Solution
VR & Augmented Reality
Living the experience of Cruise Line Shipping in a virtual world is not something S.F. Immersive VR Education is a software company based in Ireland dedicated to transforming how training and educational content is delivered and consumed. In the video above you have one of the applications developed by the company to recreate a virtual world for Titanic.
Having said that. Why some important cruise shipping line businesses like Royal Caribbean for example will not develop this kind of application to recreate the life of cruise shipping in a virtual world. Developing VR technologies can also help cruise shipping businesses to improve User Experience before somebody can make a booking.
Travel Agencies
Are also one of the businesses hit hard by Covid19 restrictions. For this kind of business like cruise shipping businesses, there are not too many solutions that can be done to keep this kind of business alive.
VR & Augmented Reality
To feel the experience to be in the Maldives or Seychelles from your headset is something that can make travel agencies around the world think seriously. Creating a virtual world for the Maldives islands for example is something that will improve the experience for potential users.
In conclusion, these are my solutions to how businesses can survive the Covid-19 Pandemic. I'm not saying that are feasible or will work 100 % but sometimes is far better to try to do something rather than nothing.
