That puts the competition on keeping prices down and it puts a premium on productivity gains. Remember that recessions are borne of excess inventories, excess inflation, excess prices, and excess wage demands. But not every global manager is thrilled by the prospect. Trotman says he is concerned that, instead of smoothing out the U.S. national business cycle, big firms may merely have made themselves even more vulnerable to world business currents that are beyond anyone's control. Motor vehicle industry sales in both North America and Europe are flat.
Cost savings are key to the productivity gains that drive the profits.
No longer can one count on either a rise in sales or in market share, as in years past. The best I can say about this is, so far, so good. There are a couple of things that bother me, though. It is true we have a quicker flow of information, but that also has the effect of speeding up the business environment. You get more information more quickly, but you have less time to really consider decisions.