Will big firms benefit from the covid crunch?

AS THE PROSPECTThe Economist Today of a widely distributed vaccine draws nearer—this week AstraZeneca and Oxford University announced results for their jab (see )—bosses and investors are turning one eye away from the immediate struggle of coping with the pandemic and looking instead at the longer-term competitive picture. Who has won and who has lost? Like viruses, recessions usually come for the weakest first. Companies with sickly balance-sheets or frail margins quickly succumb. As promising startups become crushed closedowns, it is often the incumbents that have the resources to wait it out.