Beyond Survival: Winning in a Global Recession

Source: Businessweek

Unfortunately, we’re all in this economic downturn together. But there are strategies to help your business emerge on top

By Harold L. Sirkin

I spent much of November meeting with executives of 18 companies in seven countries: France, Germany, Italy, China, India, Japan, and Brazil.

I don’t take notes at such meetings and I don’t carry a tape recorder. The conversations are confidential. But I can tell you that, without exception, the CEOs I met are all feeling our pain, because our pain, they made clear, is their pain. Little happens in a vacuum any more. In today’s interconnected world of globality, where the destiny of companies and the economic fortunes of nations are more tightly bound than ever, what happens in one country affects many, many others.

As I write this, the European Union, Japan, and the United States are all clearly in recession. Even Hong Kong and Singapore, two of the so-called Four Tigers of Asia, are in recession. But the downturn is in fact universal. Every country and almost every company has been touched. Customers are slowing payments to conserve cash; companies are delaying payments to suppliers; and so on down the line. As demand falls, prices fall. The hurt is widespread.