It felt like a risk to use the word “slump” on the front page.
The word in question was in the headline of Megan Patrick’s story about how businesses that plan ahead using specific strategies can provide themselves with a buffer against a potential economic downturn.
Is it a slump? We don’t know – I’m not sure anybody does, but there is so much more to any story about it.
Maybe it’s just unbridled optimism on the part of our sources, but even a whole front section devoted to a possible downturn doesn’t feel too gloomy. The companies we heard from in Charity Thompson’s front page story “Manufacturers employ variety of strategies to avoid recession,” have been around the block, facing layoffs and other cutbacks over their long histories in Vancouver. They agreed with our experts that diversifying the application of product lines, geographically, or by industry is the key to staying healthy. I would add that diversifying sales strategies also bolsters the health of any business’ financial outlook, strategies such as moving inventory online, creating boutiques for shoppers who do not like a large selection of items and so forth.
What I found most interesting was the focus on suppliers – what are they doing? Are their prices going up? Are their orders short or taking a long time to fill? Having a consistent supply chain is one really important way to weather the storm. Even as prices rise, reliable suppliers are worth more money than unreliable ones and will, in the end, allow businesses such as manufacturers the ability to provide product to their customers in a timely and reliable manner.
In the newsroom when we started talking about these stories, we used the term “recession proofing.” We wanted to know the strategies that would keep – and have kept – businesses solvent through difficult economic times. But when we started making phone calls, we didn’t hear back from folks. Well, business people are busy working and don’t always have time to talk to the media. But I also think that when folks hear the word recession on their voicemail, that is the only word they hear.
So we changed our tactics and really let folks know that we wanted to hear about their experiences – what has worked for them and what hasn’t – and what would they tell a friend who was asking for advice abut their own business. And I feel they gave us great information about how companies really approach these uncertain times.
So, while doom and gloom often makes the headlines (hey, just look at the headlines of our own front page stories) the reality is that each situation is unique and each company is employing a hard won set of workable strategies to stay afloat and even thrive.
And that, it seems, is the rest of the story.
