Day / August 4, 2008

by Roger Dennis

The importance of strategy in downturns

A quick post to point to a thought provoking article on the Booz site. The summary excerpt is as follows:


All industrial corporations face downturns and periods of retrenchment. Successful strategists promote upturn thinking even during the deepest downturns. Techniques such as crafting an upturn SWAT team, implementing long-term strategic planning, and requiring upturn thinking during restructuring help companies develop their own Marshall Plan to stay one step ahead of competitors when better times return.

by Roger Dennis

A Chinese recession and the World Economy

Although I’ve been looking around recently, there’s hardly any discussion about the scenario that China’s economy could nose dive.  The prospect would be interesting to say the least, and would have a dramatic effect on the world economy.  However yesterday The Independent published a piece looking at the possibility of China slowing down post-Olympics.  The most riveting statement was this:

The basic point is that Chinese consumers have taken over from those in the US as the main drivers of additional demand in the world economy. […] All eyes will be on China over the next month. It will be the first time for most of us in the West that we will have to contemplate a world where China takes over from the US as the largest economy. That tipping point is probably still 25 years away, but long before that the shift of power will shape our perception of global economics.