Survival Management in These Turbulent Times

We are in turbulent times.the people in the 1990s and which is still very
We are caught in the midst of global financialrelevant to us today.
meltdown, affecting countries, companies,In turbulent times, says Drucker, the first task of
businesses, industries and, most of all, people.management, which is also our first task, is to
Among countries, the United States, the world'smake sure of our capacity for survival, to make
biggest economy, is in recession, which hassure of our structural strength and soundness, of
affected countries in Europe, Asia, and theour capacity to survive a blow, to adapt to
American continents.sudden change and to avail for us of new
In the business world, countless corporations andopportunities in the midst of these changes.
businesses in several countries producing diverseSurviving in these turbulent times calls for new
products and services, from cars to cellularchallenges, new ideas, innovations, sometimes
phones, from banks to financial services, frommaking sacrifices and trade-offs, and of new way
appliances to restaurants and department stores,of managing. It means doing a strategic
just to name a few, have suffered severe lossesassessment to know our internal strengths and
while others have already closed shop. Theseweaknesses-- like our knowledge, skills, attitudes,
businesses were once thought to be very stable,funds, assets, competencies, and of using these
strong, and profitable.strengths to minimize our weaknesses. Our
Even giant and admired corporation onceweaknesses could be lack of positive attitudes,
considered institutions and leaders in industry werelimited skills in other fields, debts, static demand
not spared.for our products, high cost of operations, and few
Who would ever think that the venerable Generalmarket niche.
Motors Corporation (GM), which for manyTo manage efficiently in a time like this, there is
decades was the world's largest industrialno other alternative but to maximize our
corporation presently employing 244,000 peoplecompetitive advantage, our strengths and
with subsidiaries and plants in 34 countries andresources to cope with the threats in our external
sells vehicles in some 140 countries, is nowenvironment (e.g. recession, scarcity of supply and
heading into bankruptcy?demand, lack of credit sources) to take
Because of the current global recession, millions ofadvantage of the opportunities. The opportunities
people in Asia, Europe and the Americas havecould be the availability of training for new skills,
suddenly found themselves out of jobs and havenew customers for a new business, going into
joined the ranks of the unemployed. Many arenew fields of internet marketing and of making
discouraged, dismayed, demoralized.money online, or even relocating to a different
So, what shall we do to survive in these turbulentcity where the cost of living and operations is
times, in these times of change and of rapidlylower and where the demand for our products or
changing environments?services is higher.
History will tell us that in the 1990s, there wasBut it is up to us as managers, business owners
also a recession, and people have survived. Forand entrepreneurs to ensure that we use the
survival and growth are just a question of howtools of management - planning, organizing, leading
we manage ourselves, our families, ourand controlling, to survive the recession and
businesses, our priorities, relationships andfinancial meltdown. This way, when recovery
networks, and finances. And how do we do it?comes, we are still around to make our business
Peter F. Drucker, considered the most influentialgrow, prosper, and profitable once again.
management thinker ever, had an apt advice inAnd survive we will if we know how to manage in
his book titled "Managing In Turbulent Times" forthese turbulent times.