Fragile days ahead as economies climb out of recession: Ernst & Young
Lessons from change report outlines eight key performance goals to assess now
"The challenges of recovery will vary by industry. The recession shattered business models for asset management, insurance and some areas of banking. But it only accelerated changes already underway in power and utilities, and media and entertainment," explains Jeff Charriere, Partner, Ernst & Young. "Regardless of how hard a sector was hit, all companies should build their new strategy by first assessing what they've learned."
Lessons from change pulls together insight from conversations more than 500 Ernst & Young partners around the world have had with their international clients in the last few months. The report finds the most important lesson businesses can master is the ability to learn.
"We may be back from the economic brink, but we're certainly not back to normal," says Charriere. "Not all of the lessons learned from change will be new, but they are taking on new importance. Integrating those lessons into strategies now can make the difference between just surviving the recession, and actually thriving in the upturn."
In Lessons from change, Ernst & Young identifies eight primary performance goals that companies are, or should be, adopting to prepare for the rebound and to succeed in the new economy:
1. Re-evaluate your business model. Embed innovation and constantly challenge your existing business models against the new business environment. 2. Optimize the flexibility of your operations. Improve the responsiveness and flexibility of the organization to drive down cost, improve efficiency and adapt more quickly to changes in the market. 3. Maximize capital availability and deployment. Reflect the continued importance of cash and constricted funding by optimizing the availability and deployment of capital for a more flexible and robust balance sheet. 4. Examine your market reach. Optimize your global market reach and product/service mix to exploit opportunities, achieve optimum returns and mitigate risk. 5. Accelerate your decision-making and execution. Make and execute decisions more quickly to take advantage of shorter windows of opportunity and respond more quickly to adverse developments. 6. Revitalize the way you manage risk. Identify the full risk complexity of the market and develop and align a strong control framework for your business. 7. Strengthen your management talent. Gain, retain and deploy a management team that is capable of addressing the complex market and organizational environment. 8. Rebuild your stakeholders' confidence. Regain and retain stakeholder confidence through transparency and better communication on financial and nonfinancial performance.
"Even as the economy improves, it's still not business as usual. Companies need to push new ideas further than ever before," underlines Charriere. "Cash is still critical, but it's not the only factor. Businesses that focus on learning from the past and establishing a new agenda are most likely to succeed. Thriving in this challenging business climate requires flexibility, creativity and imagination - qualities that can be nurtured only by a diversity of ideas and viewpoints."
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For further information: For further information: Amanda Olliver, [email protected], (416) 943-7121; Brooke McLachlan, [email protected], (604) 899-3597; Marie-Ève Graniero, [email protected], (514) 874-4313
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