column Ton Plooy (ceo tbp electronics)

Yes, TBP 2.0... we were busy working on that and then suddenly - out of the blue - there was the coronavirus. You cannot open a newspaper, monthly magazine, mailbox, social media message or advertising brochure without it being about corona. This is also the case with this column.

We had big plans, but they suddenly appeared in a completely different light. It was a crisis. Now we had experienced that before, including in 2008, but this one was of a completely different caliber!

As usual, your mailbox was full of well-intentioned incorrect advice in no time. We were all thrown back on ourselves and different norms and values apply. Actually we had to go back to basics, the global idea suddenly no longer existed. And everyone realized that we had all become dependent on Asia, especially China. We no longer made even basic things, such as face masks. The run on essential toilet paper has been overwhelming.

Now that the dust has largely settled and everyone has counted his or her buttons, we have not entered the one-and-a-half-meter society completely silently. Working from home has become practical and Microsoft Teams extremely popular. So it turns out that there is indeed another way of working. Many people enjoy a holiday in their own country, no more Black Saturdays or other traffic jams on the road and, given the move towards supermarkets, extensive home cooking has become the new hobby of many of our compatriots.

We have also had to make the necessary adjustments in the manufacturing industry: we purchase locally, we ensure sufficient stock, there are fewer foreign employees available, and so on. Actually things that undermine the statement “everything as cheaply as possible”. The fact that it will all cost a bit more in terms of price should be seen as a kind of insurance premium: we want the assurance that matters will be arranged properly and on time.

To quote Susan Neiman (source: Het Financieele Dagblad): “Europeans take it so much for granted that they no longer see it themselves, but there is indeed a European demos: values that Europeans share and that connect them. But historical awareness is lacking. Like the fish that doesn't realize what water is, Europeans take their frames of reference so much for granted that they have forgotten how special they are.”

Did we even know how good we had it?