the first of a series in corporate survival
Imagine one of these happening to your
company:
-
your sales rapidly drop by more than 25%
-
your top customer shuts down and files for
bankruptcy
-
more than 50% of your accounts receivable
suddenly become past due
-
market prices of your products plunge by at
least 20%
-
your bank does not renew your main credit
line
-
your main bank is closed down, more than
40% of your company’s cash and investments
are trapped inside
-
more than 50% of the value of your company’s
investments in securities and other
instruments vanish overnight
The recession is not a question of if or when,
but how it will hurt or destroy your business
and industry. Are you ready for the
inevitable? Will you take these lying down as
they start to wreck your business, or will
your management remain in blissful denial
stage (“these can’t happen to us because they
have not happened before” or “we’re too big to
fail” attitude)? I recently asked the
marketing head of major firm if she is willing
to present to management a forecast of a 25%
decrease in sales. She said “never”. I asked
why. “I’ll get fired for doing so” was her
frank response. It seems that
self-preservation and mutual destruction are
two sides of the same coin.
You cannot stop an economic crisis, but you
can stop it from causing a corporate crisis.
The economy will always change from bad to
better – the question is that will your
company be still around when it does. It’s
time for defensive management, to quickly
prepare and execute plans under the worst
scenarios. Don’t waste time listening to
others analyze what went wrong with the global
economy and who’s to blame................... |
