Over the last three years or so, the covid pandemic disrupted American society and affected a variety of industries, markets and firms. According to most experts, the worst should now be behind us, and yet, some things have changed permanently: Consumer behavior has changed, supply chains have been altered, labor and resource markets have been affected in a variety of different ways, etc. Many have suffered due to these disruptions and yet others have seized new opportunities that have also appeared amidst the chaos. In some cases, industries that initially suffered, now seem to be making a strong comeback, and in some other cases, industries and firms that initially seemed to have benefitted from the pandemic, now seem to be slowing down as we get past the most serious phases of the pandemic.

In this context, your task is to identify 4 different industries or businesses that were affected in different ways during the pandemic: First, you should identify at least 2 specific industries or businesses that initially benefitted and saw overall growth during the pandemic, but which subsequently seem to have slowed down, now that we seem to be out of the pandemic. Next, you need to identify at least 2 specific industries or businesses that initially declined during the pandemic, but which now seem be recovering as we have the worst behind us.

For each of the cases that you identify, you should explain a detailed explanation of exactly how and why the industries or businesses benefited and how the pandemic brought on opportunities for value creation for the industries or businesses at hand.