Cost reduction, risk management or a new business model – which is the right way to answer the current economic crisis. Actualy that is already the wrong question. Lets have a look at the winners and find out why they benefit from the crisis. Here are some of them…

Ronald McDonald – as a rather pricier restaurant chain McDonalds has seen two million extra customers a month compared with last year and is intending to create 4,000 new jobs.

Reckitt Benckiser - the company has posted record profits of £373m for the last quarter. It seems that none of us can afford to leave the house to go to a restuarant any more. Instead people are staying home and fill up the fridge and stack the dishwasher.

Karl Marx - oh yes!!! In Germany bookstores have a 300 per cent increase in sales of “Das Kapital” in recent months, and that is not all. Visitors are marching to Marx’s birthplace in Trier.

WMF - cutlery and coffee machine manufacturer has increasing sales with products around the cooking. “food is becoming more and more celebrated” said company spokesman Thomas Dix.

IKEA/ H&M/ Aldi/ Lidl - people spend less money for consumer products. Therefore it is not a suprise to see that the sales of discounters is currently increasing above average.

But what is happening actually. The fact that people have less money in their pockets and therefore have to go for cheaper products is obvious. At a closer look however there is a second development that might be not so clear. Cocooning - the desire to perform the majority of social and cultural interactions (working, entertaining, relaxing, etc.) from home, rather than by going outside the home. Just compare the latest numbers from the gastronomy business or travel agencies. On the other hand however companies in consumer electronics facing an increase of sales.
Again it is not all about cost saving, cost reduction, risk management or suchlike. Some companies will benefit from this development and some won`t but companies which are able and willing to adapt quickly according to those trends will make the way out of the crisis.