A commentary on the COVID‐19 crisis, sustainability and the service industries

• Published date: 01 November 2020
• Author: Peter Jones,Daphne Comfort
• Date: 01 November 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2164

COMMENTARY

A commentary on the COVID-19 crisis, sustainability and the

service industries

Peter Jones|Daphne Comfort

School of Business, University of

Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, UK

Correspondence

Peter Jones School of Business, University of

Gloucestershire, Park Campus, Cheltenham,

UK.

Email: pjones@glos.ac.uk

Over the last two decades sustainability strategies and programmes have assumed an

increasingly high profile within the leading companies in the service industries. How-

ever, the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) poses a major challenge to the majority of compa-

nies within these industries and may reduce their commitment to sustainable

development. At the same time, a counter argument holds that a continuing commit-

ment to sustainability will be vitally important in maintaining the relationships

between the service industries and the natural and social capital on which many of

them depend. This commentary paper explores sustainability within the retail and

hospitality industries through the lens of the COVID-19 crisis. The paper provides an

outline of the COVID-19 crisis and of its impact within the retail and hospitality

industries and explores some of the relationships between COVID-19 and

sustainability.

1|INTRODUCTION

Over the last two decades sustainability strategies and programmes

have assumed an increasingly high profile within the leading compa-

nies in the service industries. However, the Covid-19 (Coronavirus)

poses a major challenge to the majority of companies within these

industries and may reduce their commitment to sustainable develop-

ment. Emily Salter, an analyst at Global data, the data analytics and

consulting company, for example, was reported as claiming “making

changes to materials,logistics and production processes to improve the

sustainability of products and operations will slow,as sustainability is no

longer top of retailers' and consumers' agendas”(365RETAIL, 2020). In

the hospitality sector Henry Kuokkanen, Associate Professor at

Institut Paul Bocuse, in France, argued “COVID-19 will wreak havoc in

the hospitality industry and some operators will cut all non-essential

operations to survive”and that “unfortunately,I can see how sustainabil-

ity initiatives could be categorized in this group”(Hospitality Net, 2020).

However, a counter argument holds that a continuing commit-

ment to sustainability will be vitally important in maintaining the rela-

tionships between the service industries and the natural and social

capital on which many of them depend. Jose Koechlin von Stein, Chief

Executive Officer at Inkaterra Hotels, the Peruvian eco-tourism com-

pany, for example, argued “the COVID-19 outcome reminds us how

essential it is to manage sustainably all the natural and cultural resources

that define each destination –main assets in the hospitality industry.

Hence,it is more urgent than ever to establish global strategies for the

conservation of historic and natural patrimony,considering them as a

main source of sustainable development”(Hospitality Net, 2020). Sus-

tainable Brands (2020), a global community of brand innovators,

advised “when the world emerges out of this crisis,consumers will have a

renewed interest in protecting humanity against existential risks such as

climate change and they will seek leadership in that fight from companies.

This is a crucial time for you to anchor your business around environmen-

tal responsibility and set yourself apart from competitors.”With these

thoughts in mind, this commentary paper explores sustainability

within the retail and hospitality industries through the lens of the

COVID-19 crisis. The paper provides an outline of the COVID-19 cri-

sis and of its impact within hospitality and retail industries and

explores some of the relationships between COVID-19 and sustain-

ability. The paper was written in April 2020, while the authors were

on lockdown, and as such it offers a snap shot in time of their percep-

tions of sustainability as illuminated by the COVID-19 crisis, at a very

testing time for the service industries.

2|THECOVID-19CRISIS

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, a newly

discovered coronavirus. Coronaviruses are part of a large family of

viruses that can affect birds and mammals, including humans. In recent

Received: 24 April 2020Accepted: 24 April 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2164

J Public Affairs. 2020;20:e2164.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd1of5

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2164