VUCA in United States’ Businesses

VUCA in United States’ Businesses
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VUCA in United States’ Businesses
Part 1: VUCA in U.S. Businesses
Volatility refers to the ups and downs experienced in the economic markets that are unexpected, thus leading to sharp rises and dips, especially in stock markets. The united states being one of the leading economies in the world. Such changes significantly affect its economy and large companies and firms that drive the economy. Coronavirus presents a challenge to the United States’ market due to the uncertainty around the epidemic. Investors resort to cashing out at such times, thus reducing their investments in different sectors and industries. This leads to the decline in assets such as stocks, gold, oil and bonds (Telford & Heath, 2020). For instance, Wallstreet suffers the greatest with stocks of firms such as Dow Jones falling excessively by up to 1,300 points on a daily scale leading to further panic among investors.
On the other hand, uncertainty refers to the lack of predictability or timelines that present opportunities for investors to either invest or cash out. Therefore, the lack of certainty among different sectors and industries across the globe affects global economies negatively. Lack of a clear guideline or response on when the coronavirus epidemic could end raises fears, thus leading to a continued slowdown of the United States economy. Businesses such as hotels, factories and retailers become affected by such uncertainty due to their reliance on the buying power of customers (Jones, Brown, & Palumbo, 2020). With decreasing sales, a number are forced to shut down with little knowledge on the extent or period the coronavirus is expected to last.
Complexity refers to the interdependence and interactions among different sectors of society and the economy. The onset of the coronavirus brought about a variety of challenges to employers and employees at large. Employers had to ensure that they react adequately to such problems while ensuring that their employees can work in a healthy environment. Supply chains were the hardest hit with business lacking the requisite tools and materials to effectively function during this period (Gerdeman, 2020). Additionally, clients also pay a significant role in this interdependence since businesses have to innovate to meet their client's needs under scenarios such as temporary lockdowns.
Finally, ambiguity refers to the confusion brought about by information made available but still difficult to comprehend. The coronavirus brought about a high level of uncertainty despite the various actions by governments to release information. Businesses tend to be disadvantaged due to the cautions required in such situations as well as the panic brought by it (Warrell, 2020). While several companies res...