Recession creating opportunity, survey claims

Window of opportunity: some firms are making the most of their competition's problems

Some businesses are viewing the recession as a chance to leapfrog struggling competitors, according to a survey by Barclays Commercial.

The Turning the Corner survey questioned 305 business owners and managers of firms with turnover of between £1m and £250m, and discovered that corporate attitudes remained focused on competition over consolidation, with 54 per cent of respondents seeing the challenges faced by competitors as their key recessionary opportunity.

A total of 31 per cent of respondents viewed staff loyalty, retention and productivity as their greatest opportunity.

A further 60 per cent of firms felt their organisation had been transformed for the good due to the impact of the recession, and less than a quarter of those questioned continue to operate unchanged.

David Marks, managing director of Barclays Commercial Bank, England and Wales, said: “These results show that far from being focused solely on survival, many companies are using this period to make a renewed push for growth and market share.

“We are also seeing a grass-roots economic transformation in the UK as businesses change what they produce and how they produce it en masse. This transformation is one that businesses and banks alike are working hard to understand and plan for.”

Further results from the survey show that 37 per cent of respondents said late payments are causing greater pressures than lack of demand. A total of 24 per cent claimed their businesses continued to grow, and a further 60 per cent envisioned a return to growth within 18 months. A tiny three per cent of businesses did not expect to return to sustained growth within two years.

An additional 62 per cent of business owners/managers said they were currently streamlining their business processes to combat the recession, and 37 per cent said they were diversifying product and service offerings to protect against the downturn.