March 2010

Oetter's Advice to Global Companies: Despite Cautious Optimism in 2010, Stay Focused

Paul Oetter, Partner, highlights lessons for growing international companies from the February 2010 McKinsey Global Survey; Economic Conditions Snapshot.

A recent economic survey by McKinsey & Company pointed out two prevailing sentiments regarding prospects for the remainder of 2010:

1. Businesses generally believe that they will have a better year in 2010; profits will be up and business, while by no means robust, is stronger.
2. There is a high degree of uncertainty about prospects for a strong economy in 2010 and beyond.  This appears to be the case regardless of country/region.

You may read this and say to yourself, “Yeah, that sound about right”, and you would have lots of company.  There are so many potential obstacles to a robust economic recovery that uncertainty is the sentiment of the day.  Companies are having great difficulty forecasting into the future.  So what do you do?

The simple answer may be to continue doing the things that have sustained you through one of the worst recessions in US history.  Without over-simplifying, throughout the recession we have observed companies:

• Aggressively reducing waste and controlling costs
• Pursuing continuous improvement with gusto and focus
• Managing balance sheets, and particularly, cash flow
• Pursuing new business opportunities aggressively

The best managed companies will continue to do these things and will succeed in these highly uncertain times. 

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