Companies are certainly set for choppy year ahead, but we've all been there before and worked through it. 2009 is a year to manage businesses prudently and sow the seeds for the future. Everyone can manage a business in boom times. Consumers consume, suppliers grow, and people make experimental purchases that are surplus to requirement, but may work.
We are now entering a time where consumers will conserve, suppliers will retrench, and there will be less money in the economy for experimental purchases. So how can we thrive?
This is the era for good management. We need to operate in markets where one can see the future, maybe not a lot into the future but a bit, and we will need to take proactive actions to prepare for what will be coming our way. Do not be fooled into thinking this is easy, but if you are married to your market it is not only possible but probable that you could significantly outperform your competitors and thrive in a time when others are suffering.
So get closer your market, take soundings to read the future and believe in your intuition. We are all in a supply chain of some form and can read the signs coming down the chain from the end consumer. It's just a matter of interpreting the signs and taking actions ahead of the market.
Manage your business well, act in a timely and effective manner and you will thrive when the turnaround comes, as it surely will.
Best wishes for the New Year!
Yours sincerely,
Rose Lewis, Pembridge Partners LLP, London

While access to money is still an issue, there are huge opportunities for SMEs to come into their own at this time.

SMEs are ideally placed to build market share not by directly competing with other companies but seeking those plump veins that have been left by the larger company as part of their retrenchment exercise. What is only marginal for a large company can be a rich and rewarding opportunity for the SME.

It does take some research, having the ear to the ground to know where they are. And, it is those companies that capitalise of these windfalls that will not just survive the down turn but thrive.

Don't forget, there are more fortunes made in a recession than in times of plenty!

Hi,
Whilst your survey shows interesting results, are we really surprised by them? I have read a number of other surveys that show similar findings and the lessons that I draw from them is two-fold:

First, there is an undeniable fighting spirit in the SME community. SME have it tough all the time, recession or no recession, Every day is a fight for positive cash flow. SME will not let themselves down and they'll fight with what they've got.

Second, we keep receiving mixed messages. Governments in the UK and globally speak of confidence in making it through; yet other experts speak in different terms. Since this article was published, comments from politicians have not been so confident or optimistic any more. Is it a sign that we have underestimated what lies ahead?

The truth is that 2009 will be a tough year because the full impact of the Recession is yet to hit us. When it does, will we be sufficiently prepared? My view is that we never prepare well enough. We always wait for a disaster to happen before we even consider protecting ourselves. There are hundreds of examples across every industries. Now this time is different. These are the financial markets that suffer and as a result everybody will suffer beyond any level that we dare speak of. SME do not need paper money. They need hard cash. They need help to keep their cash flow positive more than ever and I am not convinced, as always, that SMEs will get that help. Even though they represent 99% of the UK's enterprises.

What is solution?
- SMEs need access to far better market intelligence than is available to them currently. I understand that commercial firms charge for this information, but how many SMEs do actually pay for these reports and research? What are the Chambers of Commerce, FSB, Business Links and other bodies which mission is to support businesses doing in that area?
- SMEs need help to buy cheaper and receive better service. Many SME considers productivity software, management consultancy and other similar services as being irrelevant to their business. They consider themselves too small for this type of exercise. They do not have the liquidities to pay for them. Therefore they are on their own. And here I am talking about 3.4m sole traders and sole proprietor companies and a further 1m who employ up to 9 staff. 4.4m businesses out of the 4.7m enterprises in the UK, that represent a large economy left to making it on their own.

I do not believe that these SMEs get the help they ought to receive. The only help available serves a political agenda (e.g. become greener, trade with China) and Government must take SMEs more seriously than they have. Their policy making continually fails to meet the simple requirements of SMEs on the ground.

Thanks
Seb