Big Picture: Prevent a Recession, Empower the Store Manager

There are several lessons retailers should learn from the current economic nightmare: Realistic government data on the true state of anything problematic are released much too late in the game, verbal and written analysis from “officials” and “experts” are often skewed to paint a picture that’s rosier than the real story, and remedies usually arrive when the problem is beyond repair.

Here’s another good lesson: The best way retailers, especially those with multiple locations in different markets, can protect themselves in the future and begin to build new survival strategies is to empower local managers to act quickly and implement initiatives based on what they see in their local markets. The reasons behind this thinking become clear when you look at different components of a recession.

First off, let’s try to answer the burning question: How long will the recession last? That’s hard to answer today because, more than in the past, we have to factor in the performance of the global economy and the wrinkles caused by each country and region that contributes to it.