Publications
Publications
- September 2, 2020
- Harvard Business Review Digital Articles
What Really Prevents Companies from Thriving in a Recession
By: Ranjay Gulati and Mark Wiedman
Abstract
Even in the best of times, many companies fail to fund and staff new opportunities. As decades of research have shown, leaders fear threats to their status and power and so become attached to existing businesses and budgets, regarding them as entitlements and as a baseline for determining what’s “fair.” So, what might break the lethargy? An external trauma or force, such as a global pandemic or other crisis event, certainly helps. But two key measures to enhance their agility and flexibility include setting the strategic frame for resource reallocation decisions by focusing people on a positive vision of the future and reforming the budgeting process to outline metrics that can be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects.
Keywords
Citation
Gulati, Ranjay, and Mark Wiedman. "What Really Prevents Companies from Thriving in a Recession." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (September 2, 2020).