Consider a recession as a pointy curve on an auto racetrack—the perfect place to cross opponents, however requiring extra talent than straightaways. The most effective drivers apply the brakes simply forward of the curve (they take out extra prices), flip exhausting towards the apex of the curve (establish the quick checklist of tasks that can type the subsequent enterprise mannequin), and speed up exhausting out of the curve (spend and rent earlier than markets have rebounded).

A Harvard Business Review (HBR) study of 4,700 public corporations appeared on the three years earlier than, throughout, and after recessions. They divided corporations’ responses—their “driving” methods—into 4 classes: