Our firm recently completed a survey of East Tennessee business leaders in which we asked them 5 questions:
1. What are you most worried about in today’s economy?
2. How are you adjusting your business strategies?
3. Do you anticipate revenues increasing, decreasing of staying the same in 2009?
4. How long do you think the recession will last?
5. And, what is the most critical thing that needs to happen to put us back on course?
The summarized responses are on the “News” portion of our website, but generally, we found a combination of hopefulness, conservative “hunkering down”, anger at the government policies and reckless decisions that put us in this position, and fear that we still don’t know where the bottom lies.
Repondents cited additional lay-offs and an overall pull-back on spending as results of the recession and agreed that restoring consumer confidence and easing credit to businesses is critical. My favorite response to the question of “How are you adjusting your business strategies?” was “Acting conservatively but always looking for unique opportunities.” I think that epitomizes the American spirit in general, but it especially underscores our East Tennessee spirit of conservative opportunism.
We believe the keys to survival are being nimble and remaining relentlessly focused on core mission and competencies, delivering products and services that are so integral to the customer’s wellbeing that they are not considered discretionary.
