Top 8 tips for entrepreneurs in a recession

8. Take a realistic view on your problems

Doru Lionachescu, partner at Capital Partners recommends entrepreneurs to accept the problems their businesses are facing, in order to make restructuring an easy option.

Any delay in accepting these issues minimizes chances of solving these problems in reasonable conditions.

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7. Take offensive against your rivals

Mihail Marcu, president of Medlife private clinic, recommends entrepreneurs to take offensive against rivals, and any moment of weakness must be used to their advantage to go after their customers.

“If possible, take offensive against your rivals; it’s a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity”, he said.

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6. Don't ignore HR execs

According to Raluca Parvu, senior consultant at BPI Romania, human resources executives must get actively involved in staff redundancy processes. This would black lists but create a positive morale instead for the employees remaining in the company.

However, staff restructuring and redundancy is not a result of the financial crisis. It is a cyclical process in a company and natural from human resources perspective.

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5. Be flexible in your relationship with the bank

The representative of Capital Partners says entrepreneurs should take a flexible approach to lenders, as the relationship with banks has changed radically in the financial crisis. “The financial crisis has given lenders the edge over borrowers”, Lionachescu added.

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4. Internal audit clarifies management thinking

According to Mihail Marcu, an audit of staff, services quality and health insurances, identifies what departments may be falling short and provides solutions to remedy problems.

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3. Stay committed to your business

Doru Lionachescu said he had met entrepreneurs not willing to add working capital to their businesses.

“If owners are not committed to recession-proofing their company, no consultant can compensate shareholders’ engagement. A “one size fits all” approach to dealing with a business restructuring process simply doesn’t apply or work.

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2. Set up a cost-management department

Amid recessionary times when business growth is no longer driven by demand increase, conserving cash and managing the balance sheet can identify all the gaps and problems in a company.

A cost-management department could effectively help a company fare better in the financial crisis and minimize losses that otherwise would be higher, as those who hold on to in these recessionary times will emerge as winner in the end.

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1. Launch new products and services

The owner of Medlife private clinic says that even in tough times, people tend to pay more for quality.

To survive a crisis, companies must adapt to the shift in consumer behavior and launch new products to create demand in other categories, to compensate the decline in other segments.

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