Leo Pang

Now we know the US economy is officially in recession, we can feel it even in Silicon Valley – order deferred, forced vacation, salary cut, layoff, … So, what shall we do to survive?

As businesses struggle to survive a downturn, leaders generally choose to behave in one of three ways:

• “the ostrich” – preserve the status quo, and just hope for the best
• “the bull in the china shop” – blindly cut expenses across the board
• “the fox” – use the downturn to make your business more effective so when growth returns you’ll be in an even better position to move quickly.

I read an article in this subject, and here are ten “secrets” it lists that you may want to consider as you deal with our current economic climate.

• Secret #1. Really Monitor Non-Payroll Spending
• Secret #2. Establish and Enforce Budgets
• Secret #3. Curb Non-Essential Spending
• Secret #4. Get Rid of the Supply Closet, or Start Managing Inventory
• Secret #5. Negotiate Supplier Concessions
• Secret #6. Ask Your Suppliers For Advice
• Secret #7. Look for Alternatives to Capital Spending
• Secret #8. Streamline Your Processes
• Secret #9. Innovate and Use Your Savings to Fuel Growth
• Secret #10. Implement a Cost-Cutting Tool Like e-Procurement

I don’t have the copyright of this whitepaper, so I cannot put the whole articles here. If you would like to read the whole article, you can download a free copy yourself. You have to fill in some of your job related information, but I think that’s worth it.