Businesses must act swiftly during a crisis to maintain near-term viability. But it can be tempting to overreact and focus too much on cutting costs to preserve cash, according to Kevin Berger and Jessica Stansbury, Partners at Guy Carpenter-affiliate Oliver Wyman. This is rarely the best path to ensure long-term success.
The companies that come out of a crisis in the best shape and outperform their peers are those that have thought strategically. Their playbooks combine prudent and necessary cost cutting actions with longer-term, commercially-focused measures to bolster customer relationships and invest for the future.
There is no single formula that works for all companies and industries. However, the following principles – all focused on the top line – can serve as a guide to a balanced plan of attack: