Harvard Business Review
BCG’s Martin Reeves, Kevin Whitaker, and Christian Ketels write a guest column in Harvard Business Review on how companies can best prepare for an economic downturn. Citing BCG’s analysis of more than 5,000 companies across the past four business cycles, the authors explain that some companies were actually able to benefit competitively during and after a downturn. They then discuss a common set of actions that led those companies to succeed. And they explore several unique features of the current business landscape that firms must address in order to best position themselves to emerge from the next downturn stronger, both competitively and financially.