Economics

How Do Companies Survive Economic Recessions?

Virtually the same way an individual would survive a recession, but with a few differences.

Virtually the same way an individual would survive a recession, but with a few differences.

Companies should be stacking up savings in case of an economic recession but they need to balance this with growth and R&D.
Capital raises can be a good way to get a lot of capital quickly and save it while continuing to invest in growth.
A capital raise can help a company weather an economic recession even if they are not profitable.
Individuals and companies should have enough savings to last 6 months without income or revenue.

Need to be in the right industry—people who do technical work for Tesla or Apple don’t lose their jobs in a recession, because Apple and Tesla have the savings to pay them no matter what—because they are in the right industry—they make so much money that they can have savings.
Individuals need to get into the right industry so that they do not lose their job in a recession—this also allows them to make more money and save.
Just like how someone can lose a job in a recession, a business can lose its revenue in a recession, without savings, or cash on the balance sheet, it will go bankrupt.

Individuals could benefit from having more diverse streams of income. This makes them not reliant on any single income stream. This makes them more robust.—it is more likely for a single income stream to go away than several diverse income streams.
Companies can create a similar effect by creating more products—this way if one product stops selling, the others may continue to bring in revenue.
Companies should also seek to diversify their customers—if a company has a deal with another business and that business is their only customer, they could lose 100% of their revenue if that business is no longer a customer. For example, Apple sells MacBooks to individuals, businesses, schools, etc., so it is unlikely that they would ever lose 100% of their MacBook sales because they have such a diverse customer base.

How can we effectively cut costs?
Individuals should always be trying to cut costs
This allows individuals to invest in stocks (notice how this is exactly the same as a business investing in R&D and ads—the business and the individual are both cutting costs to invest in the business)
Businesses should always be trying to cut costs
This allows companies to sell at a lower cost than the competition, potentially increasing revenue. Or they can sell at higher margins and increase revenue for more R&D, ads, etc.
Individuals cancel their Netflix subscriptions; companies lay off employees.
Individuals move from a 3 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom; companies move from large office space to a medium office space—or switch to online alternatives.

Bitcoin is just another way to increase savings—it has a fixed supply and appreciates over time. The downside is that in a market crash, the price of Bitcoin will likely drop, making it potentially less liquid than USD.
In the future, companies may allocate a percentage of their balance sheet to bitcoin. It would allow them to make significant gains but not substantially hinder liquidity.

There are usually many opportunities that arise in a market crash. One can look for undervalued assets: stocks, bonds, real estate—that have likely crashed due to others being fearful and selling or needing to sell to increase their liquidity or pay a debt. This creates an opportunity for the individual. This creates investing and business opportunities for those who can spot them.
There are opportunities for businesses too. Many businesses cannot survive economic recessions—this reduces competition for incumbents and creates space in the market for new businesses to be created.
It also is the best time for businesses to acquire smaller businesses with good tech or a good product. The early stage business may not be able to survive the economic downturn which will make them want to sell to a big company.