Crisis Principals

BASIC PRINCIPALS OF WORKING DURING RECESSION 2008-09

PRINCIPALS FOR CORPORATES

1. Keep inventory level at minimum. Prices of material is sure to go down;
2. Keep liquidity position at maximum level. You might be required to buy products at the prices lower than your expectation;
3. Curtail all avoidable expenses. Suggest your work force including yourself to come into low profile;
4. Maximize customer contact to convert inquiries of potential buyer into order at whatever minimum possible profit margin;
5. Take stock of your debtors and collect market information about the parties whether any of them are involved in share market speculation in excess of its capacity;
6. Controlling your debtors by reducing the period of credit and offering cash discounts;
7. Do not entertain any new party with credit terms for sales unless you are fully satisfied about its credentials;
8. Try to reduce your interest burden – No more leveraging;
9. In case of foreign debtors denominated in foreign currency try to collect the same at an early date as the rupee value has depreciated to more than twenty percent – this will give an additional profit in the form of foreign exchange fluctuation gain;
10. Try to pay off your foreign loans if the same is not fully hedged against your export proceeds as the overall amount of loan has increased in-directly with every fall in the rupee against dollar;
11. Re-examine the expansion plan of your new or existing projects for the time being in view of the current market scenario;
12. Gather maximum information about your business related activities and be a quick decision maker;
13. Always keep the principal of ‘Survival of the Fittest’ in mind;
14. You may need to do ‘TIME PASS’. It is advisable in this scenario;
15. It is for sure that ultimately, at the end of this situation, India is going to shine like never before and you should be there to get ample advantage.

PRINCIPALS FOR AN INDIVIDUAL

1. Do self Analyses of your finances;
2. Liquidate all your outstanding future and option position;
3. Sell whatever stocks you have and even at lower prices;
4. Park your cash surpluses in fixed deposits at nationalized banks;
5. Spread your savings among different class of assets and within the same asset class also over different medium or modes as far as possible;
6. Review your banks and amount deposited with them – try reducing your stake with co operative banks and private banks – as they are very aggressive to make higher margins – the executives are too much stressed to show improved performance year after year and in this process the quality of advances keeps on deteriorating. This possible is one of the reasons which have led to the fall of centuries old institutions in Unites States of America;
7. Postpone your decision of purchasing the property;
8. Early disposal of immovable property in case you want to sale it in near future;
9. Stop using credit card for at least six months period – this mechanism will act as indirect control over your expenditure limiting the same to your available cash in hand;
10. Don’t trade in the share market / look at the daily prices of the share indices- Making track of the share indices lures the person to again increase exposure to the market by looking at the prices which have fallen to more than seventy percent and looks very attractive;
11. Stop extending personal loans;
12. Spend more of your time with your family members at home to keep yourself away from the crisis which is not in the control of anybody;
13. Take stock of your inventories and make best use of the same;
14. Don’t change jobs, as companies will retrench based on ‘last in first out’.

-ALL THE BEST AND BEST OF LUCK

(I welcome your suggestions; please email it at ajay@ajaygoyal.com)