What does the present economic situation mean to your organisation? Based on the experiences of the past two recessions, companies tend to adopt one of two strategies. The first strategy is to ‘batten down the hatches’, reduce operational costs, postpone capital projects, scale back recruitment and so on, and try to weather the economic storm, which may suit the majority of social housing organisations, particularly due to their public sector-funded status (in most cases).
The second strategy is to view the situation as an excellent opportunity to proactively expand the organisation by taking advantage of the passivity of the rest of the market, either via acquisitions of other organisations, buying cheaply-priced housing stock, or rolling out infrastructure projects so that the business is in even better shape when the economy improves. The smallest housing organisations are likely to have little choice other than adopting the first strategy, but mid-sized organisations should at least be thinking about how they can use their nimbleness and size to take advantage of the situation and grow their businesses.
