The Toyota problems, with over 9 million autos being recalled around the world, has set the blog thinking about how to spot corporate disaster in the making. One excellent source of insight is Prof Jim Collins’ book, ‘How the Mighty Fall’, published last year. This suggests that doomed businesses pass through 5 key stages. Encouragingly, […]
Chemicals and the Economy
4 tips for longer-term corporate survival
Last September, the blog noted ‘4 tips for survival in the New Normal’. Now, 3 years of research by a team of UK and Dutch academics has identified companies that have achieved almost uninterrupted success over a 20 year period, and asked senior executives about their experience. As summarised by Stefan Stern in the Financial […]
“Fundamental reassessment of the value of virtually every asset”
“Our normal customers have no orders to place with us, and our credit department won’t let us sell to others who might want to buy”. The blog was given this plain-spoken assessment of current chemical market conditions by one of the majors yesterday. Coincidentally, US Fed Governor Kevin Warsh was making one of his rare […]
4 tips for survival
Last month, the blog titled its 2009 Outlook, Budgeting for Survival. This week, the Financial Times has begun a series on developing recession survival strategy. Its key tips are: • Manage your cash. Don’t spend money unnecessarily. • Keep a strong balance sheet. Have as little debt as possible. • Price your products/services keenly. Be […]
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