question: In order to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies face numerous strategic decisions of utmost importance for their future Being aware of one's objectives is a prerequisite for sound decision making However, decision and policy makers are often not aware of their objectives when facing important decisions in 'normal' times In addition, specific objectives have to be identified in times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic In this article, we provide guidelines for managers that illustrate the following (i) How to identify company objectives (ii) How to align them within their supply chains and with governmental objectives of policy makers (iii) How to adjust objectives during and after the COVID-19 pandemic Furthermore, we suggest comprehensive sets of relevant objectives and propose an iterative process to define, align, and adjust objectives The study may help practitioners from business and public administration when making decisions and policies Researchers may be inspired by the outlined viewpoints on decision-making processes and the addressed perspectives for future research © 1973-2011 IEEE