Small is the new big in PH

EF SCHUMACHER in his seminal 1973 book, “Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered,” said, “even today, we are generally told that gigantic organizations are inescapably necessary; but when we look closely, we can notice that as soon as great size has been created, there is often a strenuous attempt to attain smallness within bigness.”

The pandemic has led to the development of a new business model where the huge malls and businesses have to contend with dwindling customers due to minimum health protocols. It used to be that consumers would go to big malls since everything was there. One can do window shopping; eat from the various restaurants inside the mall from fine dining and fast food to bars; do one’s grocery; and if you, by any chance, visit such establishments on a Sunday, there would be a mass. A venue being all-in-one was the norm. But with Covid-19, consumers go to hole-in-the-wall, 24/7 neighborhood groceries, sari-sari (variety) stores and rely on orders made over the internet. The less people visiting a establishment, the more it is patronized by consumers in the new norm because there are no lines to enter the facilities and less exposure to the virus.