Economic downturns test operations, management, product viability, & customer relations.
Generally the economies of many industrialized nations have been doing well for several years. Have you ever thought about that?
Do you own or are you a majority owner in a business? As a business owner, what would you do if the economy turned down and your business was on the edge of failure? Would you borrow from a bank, from credit cards, from any legal source, or take it into bankruptcy?
All of these companies have had difficulty and been near failure. Xerox, W. R. Grace, Crown, Cork & Seal, Federal Mogul,hundreds of Dot-coms, IBM, Daimler-Chrysler, Lucent, and AT&T.
Which of these reasons seriously contribute to businesses having difficulty or failing? Bad management, good management infiltrated by incompetent people, arrogance, government regulations, government meddling, or general economic conditions? How about interference of government agencies (OSHA, EEOC, EPA, FDA,…), technological changes, poor implementation of a good idea, poor implementation of a bad idea?
It is very difficult to effectively manage staff these days.
What other reasons why, in good economic times, many companies with solid customers are failing?