Well, it would seem that Covid 19 has not only turned our lives upside down but in some senses has also caused one particular business model to flip back to front!

We all know SWOT don’t we? (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats: the analytical model for making strategic decisions in a business (or any other walk of life really), well let me introduce you to TOWS (see what I did there?).

Yes, here at the Brighton Business School we are innovators, and to prove it we even have a Subject Group called Responsible Enterprise and Innovation! So how has Covid-19 reversed the ubiquitous SWOT model? Well, here are just a few examples (I know that my colleagues and students have many more):

People who work in the beauty sector are often self employed and are having real problems now that they have to socially distance themselves from their clients. The Government’s new funding initiative (Coronavirus [COVID-19] Self Employment Income Support Scheme) only goes so far to support these workers.

So, one innovative hairdresser and hairdressing lecturer (an ex-colleague of mine) has decided to seize the bull by the horns and make the best of a bad situation while at the same time supporting fellow citizens. She showed some hilarious mishap haircut photos on her Facebook page and invited the public to have an online tutorial with her while cutting their children’s hair. How innovative is that? So, in one fell swoop we’ve moved from threat to opportunity. Will these new ‘customers stay with her after Covid-19? Who knows, but it is worth a punt, isn’t it?

But, how is this related to the Business School I hear you ask? Well, let me explain… one of our very own innovative International Business students saw an academic opportunity (rather than a threat) when Covid 19 hit while on their study year abroad and realised that those in the Beauty sector were likely to be badly hit by the virus and wanted to research it. I heard about this and decided to hook these two innovators up. And voila, we have an academic research project based on a real-life crisis in the business sector underpinned by a real life business case study and if that isn’t practical wisdom, I don’t know what is!

In our Small Business and Entrepreneurship module, where students have to develop their own business plans, three of our own student Entrepreneurs had a great idea to start an eco business called Ethicul (I know, I don’t like the spelling either, but it’s wasn’t me they had to convince, it was our team of Dragons who are all members of the local Chamber of Commerce).

The business idea is a mobile application which facilitates a social movement of positive purchasing. The Dragons loved the business idea so much that the group of three decided to turn their dreams into reality and have now set up their own business! They haven’t even finished studying yet and are having to cope with the rigours and challenges of online learning.

What’s that got to do with Covid-19 and our new TOWS model? Well, instead of thinking about the ‘threat’ of people reducing their shopping due to social distancing, these students grasped the ‘opportunity’ by putting the call out on LinkedIn asking their (rapidly growing) fanbase to recommend businesses that were keeping going to provide ethical produce in spite of the virus – thereby raising the profiles both of the ethical companies listed and their own brand during the crisis. Another great innovation.