Business Sustainability: What Did We Learn from the Economic Downturn?

Companies across all industries took extreme measures to mitigate the financial pressures and risks of uncertain economic times.  Our professional consulting practice observed many companies taking cost-cutting actions that were absolutely necessarily at the time but seem strange in today’s more positive environment.  The question now becomes: Did we learn from our past actions, or are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes?   A recent article featured in Logistics Viewpoints discusses one company’s journey back from recessionary action to business growth strategy decision making.  Sensing a turn in economic fortune, executives at Nestle debate the appropriate strategy to capitalize on returning consumer demand.  Like many product delivery companies, two overarching business growth questions rise to the top, each leading to its own risk/reward.  

• Should we focus our attention on market expansion and product customization, thereby increasing supply, distribution and operating cost?

• Should we focus our attention on operational efficiency and current product offering scale, thereby decreasing supply, distribution and operating cost?

  Choose right and your business is on its way to success; however, choose wrong and you could be a ‘slippery slope’ back to the constrained days of the recent past.  So how does one choose?  What questions need to be asked?  Click here to read more about business sustainability and the recovery economy.   

Home to one third of the earth's trees, the Taiga is the largest land-based biosphere and encircles the globe. Its immense oxygen production literally changes the atmosphere and refreshes the planet. It is this continuous renewal that has shaped Taiga Company's vision to drive similar change in the business world. Taiga Company seeks to be the "oxygen for your business".