Not only a look at the newspaper, but also objective key figures such as the "World Uncertainty Index" show that crises and major changes in corporate environments are occurring more and more rapidly and are increasingly overlapping. Change is thus becoming the new normal, to which companies must not only react, but which ideally even serves as a strategic development. After all, crises and other times of great change often offer the best opportunities to stand out from the competition.
"A crisis is a terrible thing to waste."
Paul Romer, Economist, Stanford
For example, a study by the Henderson Institute shows that at least 14% of all companies were able to record higher sales and profit growth in times of crisis. Even after recessions, such crisis winners had permanently twice as high sales and earnings growth as average companies. A long-term analysis by GfK/Serviceplan for the FMCG sector in Germany also comes to the conclusion that the largest market share gains, but also the largest market share losses, occur in phases of economic downturn.
Source: Reeves, M., Rhodes, D., Ketels, C., Whitaker, K. (2019). Advantage in Adversity: Winning the Next Downturn, in: Lanzer, Sauberschwarz & Weiss, Erfolgreich durch die Krise, SpringerNature, 2020
Exploiting crises and changes is therefore possible and important - but not easy to achieve in practice!
Exploitation of changes by increasing resilience in the company
In order to use crises and changes positively, companies must build strong resilience. In relation to companies, this concept from psychology describes the ability of an organization to cushion something and adapt in a changing environment in order to achieve, survive, and thrive. Resilient organizations can anticipate and respond to risks and opportunities - due to sudden or gradual changes in the internal and external context. The above-mentioned studies show that this definition can even be expanded if resilience not only describes the reaction to changes, but even their exploitation for positive development. In order to achieve such resilience in companies, a proactive approach in the corporate strategy is necessary in addition to operational (immediate) measures.
