A new book by a University of Salford academic and colleagues examines tools and strategies that businesses can use to navigate the end of the pandemic and into the recovery.
Published by Business Expert Press and titled Calling Out COVID-19: Business Strategies for Surviving a Pompeii Event, the book makes a comparison of the past twelve months to the ancient Roman tragedy of Pompeii which left the city destroyed and buried under layers of volcanic debris following an eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Author Faisal Sheikh, a lecturer in accounting at the Business School at Salford, and an international co-author team of academic-practitioners, believe that the pandemic and its aftermath are synonymous with Pompeii, particularly its effect on businesses worldwide.
“I was thinking about it one late summer night in 2020 and what went through my mind was Pompeii and that eruption, wave upon wave, and right now, we’re in another wave,” he explained. “It’s all well and good saying it’s the end of the world, but how can we survive it?”. Faisal quickly put together a worldwide team of qualified accountants from Malaysia, Norway, and Manchester and working remotely leveraged their collective work experience and ideas.
Acting as a practical guide rather than a book based solely on theory, it argues the point that everybody, no matter if they are in the public or private sector, will have to innovate to adapt to the changes the pandemic has caused.
Faisal and his team argue: “The first solution is to innovate, the second is effective cash management, the third is anti-fraud measures and finally robust corporate governance. This book provides tools on all of that and more, but I understand that there is always more to be said.
“For example, working remotely. With tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, business has become easier. We’re very lucky that all of the groundwork was laid out ten or so years ago with 4G and other big developments. If we didn’t have that, we would be finding adjusting to everything much more difficult!”
Faisal added how he wanted this book to be his contribution to businesses and way of offering support to how they can get back on their feet. The book was written not only for business-minded people, but also for those who are genuinely interested in how businesses are responding in these unprecedented times.
Following the book’s release, Faisal and his team is hoping to produce and film online webinars and lectures, discussing the topics mentioned in the book.
It is now available to purchase.
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