STRATEGY
Beat the recession
LEARN TO ADAPT
A recession naturally brings
change - some of these changes
can be catalysts for growth.
This is most likely to be true
for your company if your
organisation is flexible and
ready to adapt. A recession
makes everyone look at how
they run their business – it is
the leanest, most adaptable
companies that come out the
other side as success stories.
Many organisations are not
designed for change - they’re
set up in silos with the left
hand often oblivious to what
the right hand is doing. A
healthy organisation will
break down those barriers to
work as one unit. The world
after a recession is unlikely
to resemble the one before it.
Your priority, when you get a
moment’s respite, should be to
make sure your organisation
is fit to cope with the “new
normal” of frequent change.
Companies with clear
organisational structures
tend to be more flexible, so
keep your business structure
simple to stay nimble. It makes
the flow of work between
different parts of your business
smoother. Unencumbered by
layers of managers and staff
between the corner office and
the shop floor, your business
needs to be able to announce a
new course of action and follow
up to make sure it happens.
Build co-operation into all
the parts of your system –
from sales to supply. The basic
lesson is: bureaucracy is slow,
simplicity is fast, and a business
that is quicker to respond to
the inevitable changes of the
recession is less likely to
come unstuck.
PLAY TO YOUR
STRENGTHS
In a recession, the temptation
is to cut back. The question
for many leaders is should you
restrict expenditure? We didn’t
cut our spending, we changed
our spending, investing more
in the parts of the business that
brought growth. Over the last
three years of the recession,
we invested in our people
and tripled our workforce,
recruiting fresh talent from our
larger competitors. We invested
in the challenges of tomorrow,
and that meant we got to where
we are today.
We made sure we used the
most efficient distribution
centres possible, and ones
whose operations were less
likely to be weakened by a
slow economy. We streamlined
the process of delivery so our
customers were always happy,
and we made sure we kept to
our company’s core values.
Unsurprisingly, not all
companies follow the same
strategies during a recession.
To beat a recession, you need
to master a delicate balance
between looking after costs
to survive today and investing
to grow tomorrow. During
difficult times, companies
need to be founded on more
than a promise - it’s about
the ability to deliver. During
a recession, the best results
come from playing to your
strengths. Out of all of this,
there was one simple lesson
we learnt from the recession do good business, please your
customers, and look after your
costs at the same time. The
rest, as they say, will take
care of itself.
Contact:
www.igloobooks.com
In a recession, the temptation is to cut back. The question
for many leaders is should you restrict expenditure?
58 September 2014
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