Whether your company is dealing with a loss of market share or explosive growth, it’s always important to be ready with sound strategies to ride the waves. We spoke to various business entrepreneurs and consultants who share their tips with us on various innovative strategies.

1. Review your strategic plan on a systematic basis. Short-term planning is important in a changing business environment but long-term planning will carry you through any business cycle.
2. If your company is in a period of rapid growth, be sure you have a sound human resources infrastructure in place. Be sure you look after new employee needs, such as orientation.
3. Whatever the state of the economy, be sure you follow up on receivables, even designating an employee full-time to focus on the task. Make sure you conduct credit checks and get references before you grant new customers credit.
4. Reduce obsolete inventory. Even in a high growth period, it’s important to ensure that your supply and demand are in balance.
5. Deal with flexible suppliers. For example, you can work with them to renegotiate better purchasing terms, especially if you’re dealing with high-volume business.
6. Hold regular brainstorming sessions with your employees to review your operations, and suggest new ideas for working more efficiently.
7. Ask your lenders to be more flexible on the terms of your loan and ensure that their financial products and services are customized to your needs. For example, by paying interest only, you can alleviate cash flow when you have an aggressive repayment schedule.
8. Regularly review your capital expenditures budget, and look for innovative ways to keep costs down. What production equipment do you really need now? You might choose to avoid a large down payment for purchases by leasing instead of buying.