In 2021, the Chinese government released a new plan for the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone which made developing South China’s modern service industry a priority.

The epidemic has dealt a heavy blow to the service industry, exposing and amplifying its weaknesses, which, I believe, will prompt the government to pay more attention to the sector and support its development.

Meanwhile, service firms themselves should re-evaluate their operations, identify their weak links, and improve their internal resilience. Though the epidemic has inflicted losses in the short term, the test it presents companies is expected to help improve the industry over the long term.

Given the growing adoption of a customer-oriented strategy among service organisations, customer orientation can constitute an important individual difference variable that shapes reactions to empowering leadership. So, how can empowering leadership motivate individuals with different levels of customer orientation?