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Economic turbulence may be on the cards for 2008, but
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instead of bailing out why not ride out the storm? It could carry you further than you thought
possible. Louise Cole reports.
If you believed every thing being written in the financial press about recession at the moment you would probably commission a fresh valuation of your operation and have it on the market by February.The press and some sectors of the market have turned distinctly bearish with forecasts of extreme GDP downturn following our 13 years of fairly consistent growth.
Certainly the fourth quarter of 2007 showed some weakness and the global credit crunch isn't boosting confidence. But there are also reasons to be cheerful —2008 could present a year of distinct opportunity. If your firm is in the right financial condition this could be the time to be bullish.
Business opportunities
Senior analyst David Pattison of Plimsoll Publishing lists the following opportunities to be grasped during 2008: • There has never been a better time to argue your case for passing on fuel costs.
• The commercial pressure on firms of all sizes provides great acquisition prospects for those fit enough to take advantage of them. Failures also reduce overcapacity and make space in the market.
• Competitors who are struggling will be forced to retrench. If you have any financial solidity, push home your advantage in 2008 and make your rivals fall back.
• Bury the bad news. You can make changes to your business or your contracts and blame the market, thus protecting that allimportant goodwill factor. • emember that everyone is having to deal ith the same market pluses and minuses o if you are solvent and ticking over nicely, his is certainly not the time to take a rotectionist stance. Don't hide your Strengthtrade on it.
lb biggest problem for any business when fa ing an economic downturn however slight-is the loss of confidence that sweeps tfirough the market like an epidemic. 'the banks tend to become more conservatifr;customers retrench; and it can, quite uti erstandably, be hard to hold on to that fig ting spirit. But you need to have a lo ger-term vision for your operation.
I
In erminable speculation
'Ii
g+ The speculation about economic contraction usually lasts many times longer than the contraction itself-like all cowards, the financial market suffers many deaths.The problem is that if your firm is sound but you act defensively now you will be living with the consequences of those decisions in 12 or 24 nths' time when the reasons for them ht have long gone.
attison is convinced that 2008 could be a at year for road transport -under the right management. "The bigger companies have been seeing 5-6% growth and it's true that some of the smaller companies are missing out on that." he says. "But there are companies of all sizes making money.This is a Darwinian time:a time of evolution. It is up to every company to adapt,respond, change. Only those who do will survive." m