In a crisis, companies shouldn't let their key people go

Companies who will be the winners after economic growth resumes are those brave enough not to waste their resources to finance operations with no future, says Silviu Manolescu, executive manager of audit and consulting firm BDO Romania.

“Tomorrow’s winners will be those who manage to adjust their resources and funding so that when growth is resumed, they will be in a position to offer what the market can buy. Companies need to identify operations they cannot afford any more. And they are not allowed to lose strategic human resources. This is essential. Anything else can be rebuilt. Key people are tougher to replace,” Manolescu told ZF in an interview.

BDO Romania has 11 partners and last year saw a 10% turnover rise against 2008, of 10 million dollars (7 million euros).

The head of BDO believes companies that understand correctly the trends specific to the markets they are operating on, and are able to adjust their structure and operating volume without losing strategic resources and preserve relations with business partners by redefining commercial conditions to the extent where the relation makes sense economically will be the top performers.

Manolescu says making the right decisions in a time of crisis, even in private companies, has been slightly delayed, with executives in some companies making the mistake of waiting for better days, and failing to take quick and firm restructuring decisions.

“I think a first mistake that was made was in terms of perception, in the evaluation of how powerful the “storm” would be. Maybe there was also inertia involved, because, after ten years of economic growth, it is hard to believe that things can go so bad so suddenly? It’s only human to think like that,” he says.

Another mistake was the replication of anticrisis measures taken by other organisations, without analysing their effects on their own company.