Sunday Strategist: Wahl Made the DIY Haircut Possible. Now What?

Millions of American haircuts start among the tassel-topped cornfields of Sterling, Ill., two hours west of Chicago. That’s where some 1,200 workers machine, assemble, and ship Wahl Clipper Corp.'s clippers and trimmers, which are to barber and beauty shops what Mac laptops are to graphic designers. Wahl, the default brand of buzzer, has market share up to 80 percent, depending on the particular device.

Decades from now, MBA students may well be studying what happened at this company and in this little town of 15,000 people when Covid-19 swept across the heartland. There may be no better example of how violently a pandemic can mangle a microeconomy—or how businesses can survive and even thrive under such extraordinary conditions.