Study of corporate strategies in times of recession

Abstract

Abstract An organization decides on its goals, vision and mission, the way to achieve this goal is through corporate strategy. Strategy keeps in mind not only short term but also the long term goals of an organization. It has to change with the changes in the internal environment of the organization, change in the short term goals and also changes in the external environment. Changes in the external environment may include new entrants, new technology, greater competition, legislation, market conditions etc. Market conditions follow what is known as the business cycle, which is characterized by alternate periods of boom and depression. The periods of depression or recession or slowdown give corporations and corporate strategists nightmares. Our study focuses on the effects of recession on the environment, both internal and external. The effect on various divisions in the organization, and how the requirements of each division change with the conditions. It then studies various generic strategies that exist and tries to find out what the differences in the organizations are and what factors determine which strategy is chosen.3 We have attempted to study all this through two case studies and have tried to draw conclusions about the strategies adopted by them and the success of their chosen strategy.