How 4 multibillion-dollar industries hobbled by the pandemic are evolving to deal with the massive disruption

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Apple is just one of many companies that are closing brick-and-mortar locations.

• Corporate America will likely be reeling from the impact of the coronavirus for years to come.
• While some ramifications will be short-term, others will be more profound and could force industries like health care and manufacturing to drastically change their operations.
• The outbreak is also leading companies to accelerate digital overhauls or pivot more quickly to new technology, to meet the new reality of social isolation that could last months.
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On Wednesday, President Donald Trump made the decision to invoke a law enacted during the Korean War that could force automakers and others to pivot production lines to meet demand for scarce items like ventilators.

Some alcohol brewers and luxury perfume makers - like Louis Vuitton's parent organization LVMH - are also switching over to make hand sanitizer.

Those shifts are likely to be temporary. But corporate America could be reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic for years after the outbreak subsides.

The crisis is forcing industries like gambling and tourism to press the federal government for hundreds of billions of dollars of bailout funds to cover the impact.

Companies that might have previously eschewed the idea of remote work have been forced to embrace the system for thousands of their employees. And industries like big tech that are reliant on foreign supply chains in China might have to rethink those structures.

But it's also accelerating the pace at which organizations must adapt to the possibilities enabled by the digital economy. Sectors including media, retail, health care, and manufacturing have all changed aspects of their business since the outbreak began in ways that could last well-after the crisis subsides.

We took a look at the industries facing the biggest disruption as a result of the pandemic and how some have already begun to change in response.

Media & Entertainment

While streaming services like Netflix have begun in recent years to challenge how films are typically released in theaters several weeks before becoming available in the home, legacy studios still operate under that model.

But the coronavirus pandemic has forced multiplexes to shutter for several weeks and put a major barrier in place to film-release schedules mapped out years in advance.

NBCUniversal became the first non-Netflix player in the media space to release some titles on-demand at the same time they are playing in theaters - eschewing the typical 90-day release window before titles appear on digital platforms. Disney had crossed a similar line a few days earlier, releasing "Frozen 2," which already finished its run in theaters, on its Disney+ streaming platform months before it had planned to.

While that appears to be a temporary policy on the part of NBCUniversal, the outbreak and subsequent social isolation policies might last into the lucrative summer months and prompt more studios to join in, and maybe make longer-term changes to how studios release their films.

Such a step would not be taken lightly.

Entertainment giants have largely resisted changes to the traditional release process out of fear it could cut into the profits it makes from distributing films initially in multiplexes. And there are signs major industry players are trying their best to avoid it by moving major releases further into the year. The new "James Bond" movie now won't hit theaters until November, well past the initial release date of April 10. And Marvel's "Black Widow" movie, a major tentpole for parent company Disney, is delayed indefinitely.

But as box office totals drop to decades-long lows, the industry is poised for even further disruption should the pandemic last as long as some experts are predicting - up to several months or even beyond that. Perhaps more titles will join NBC Universal's recent releases and "Frozen 2" on streaming, with untold box-office ramifications.

Healthcare

Business Insider Intelligence has previously estimated that up to 45% of the 1.2 billion outpatient visits that happen annually could be treated via telehealth. Achieving those numbers, however, would require a significant change in strategy for providers - including staffing the virtual centers with more clinicians.

Yet the healthcare industry is often slower than others to embrace technology changes. The sector is highly regulated and profit margins can be slim - meaning less money is available to fund more dynamic changes.

The coronavirus pandemic is not just demonstrating why those digital transformations are critical, it's also accelerating the pace of change. The rapid surge in demand for telemedicine, for example, could finally be the catalyst needed to encourage a more profound move towards remote medical examinations.

At Providence St. Joseph Health, new tools like an online chatbot are making it easier to screen patients initially to prevent overwhelming of the emergency rooms - particularly as the availability of necessary equipment like safety masks becomes more scarce.

And as more Americans embrace the concept of social distancing to blunt the spread of the disease, the use of telehealth services is rapidly increasing. So much so that companies are having difficulty finding clinicians to address the growing backlog of patients.

Should that demand continue, it would require major changes for the industry.

Doctors who have never worked with those digital tools would need to undergo training on the most effective ways to provide care remotely. And figuring out the best ways to coordinate care between the physical hospitals and the virtual world would take time.

A few are already being addressed.

Gaps in insurance coverage can make it more difficult for some to pursue telehealth solutions. But the federal government just took a major step to allow Medicare providers to get reimbursed for virtual care at the same rate they do for visits to a physician - paving the way for more seniors to use these services.

Retail

Hesitation to use paper money for fear of germs could heighten consumer interest in mobile payments and force more retailers to adopt those platforms.

The US has lagged behind other countries in the adoption of contactless transactions, whether that be tapping a physical card or a phone against the machine. The New York subway system, for example, only recently implemented such a system, while London instituted it in 2014.

Most retailers are shuttering operations in physical stores to help prevent the spread of the disease. But even when the country is able to return to some sort of normalcy, concerns are likely to remain over how easily an outbreak could once again spread rapidly.

That could force more companies to implement contactless payments in their brick-and-mortar locations. Payments research and consulting firm The Futurist Group found that consumer expectation for contactless features on cards surged 27 percent last year.

"For the first time in these extreme circumstances, people are starting to think about everyday actions, from shaking hands to handing their credit card to the barista," cofounder Demitry Estrin said previously.

Big Tech

The technology industry is not the only one that relies on China for critical goods.

The trade war between the US and China accelerated plans to move production out of the nation. But the pandemic is once again highlighting just how dependent major tech firms like Apple are on suppliers in the region - and could once again force discussions in the C-Suite on whether to move supply chains to countries like Taiwan, India, or Vietnam.

"It has become clear that many in the chain were woefully unprepared to react quickly" to the disruption, analysts at ABI Research wrote in a recent report. Companies "should consider diversifying production and reducing their reliance on a single country, manufacturer, or technology supplier."

Apple CEO Tim Cook said earlier this year, for example, that it had a few providers in the area around Wuhan, where the coronavirus originated. Despite that, he said he was optimistic production would ramp up again.

There are signs that fears were exaggerated. While rumors circulated that the company would delay the launch of a new line of iPads as a result of the outbreak, those appear to have been false. Apple on Wednesday unveiled a new version of its signature tablet that will be available as early as next week - indicating that its supply chain may be more resilient against disruptions in China than some thought.

Still, the decision by key iPhone supplier Foxconn to shut down production in China is projected to lead to as much as a 10% reduction in shipments in the first three months of the year.

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