Following a survey, conducted in some of the UK’s largest cities, Marsh has concluded that “UK firms believe that the downturn will create opportunities to improve their operational efficiency, acquire quality businesses at favourable prices and secure brand leadership.”
However, Marsh also indicated that “over two-thirds of respondents do not expect the current downturn to end until 2010, with 35 percent predicting no improvement until the latter half of that year.”
Marsh conducted the surveys at recent seminars in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester and Milton Keynes. It “revealed that 96 percent of delegates believed that the economic downturn can provide opportunities for well-managed businesses, with 41 percent of delegates seeing operational improvements as the best business opportunity,” said Marsh. “This was followed by competitively priced acquisitions at 26 percent and brand leadership at 22 percent.
“However, when questioned about what poses the greatest risk to UK business, an average of 50 percent of respondents identified access to credit at a reasonable rate. This was followed closely by trading difficulties of suppliers or customers at 37 percent, and was the leading concern among respondents in London.”
Martin South, Marsh UK CEO, commented: “Challenging economic times present well-managed companies with an opportunity to come to the fore. Marsh is working with clients to help them manage through the downturn by identifying how their risk profiles are changing and how best to respond.
“As access to credit insurance is a major concern for businesses, we are working closely with our clients to help them make a compelling case to their insurance companies. And, as clients demand a broader range of insurance carriers on their insurance programmes to spread their risks, we are working with insurance markets to make that happen.
“Companies that simply regard risk as a downside to be avoided in tough times are missing valuable opportunities for growth. As our survey demonstrates, forward-looking businesses can often turn an environment of weaker competitors, changing customer attitudes and cost-driven organizational change into a competitive advantage.”
Source: Marsh – www.mmc.com or www.marsh.com
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Berkshire’s ‘Most Important’ Biz Drives Q1 Results; GEICO Still Behind on Tech 
Growing Wildfire Risk Leaves States Grappling With How to Keep Insurers From Fleeing 
‘Buffett Got it Wrong’ on California Fire Risk: PG&E CEO 
Growing Progressive Set to Hire 10,000+ in Claims, IT, Other Roles 
