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"Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm."

There is a "sweet spot" in the expansionary phase of the business cycle where virtually all activities of the corporation move, and should move in the same direction. Managing a company during this sweet spot is as easy as steering a ship in calm seas.

Of course, the true measure of the corporate executive team comes not in these bullish times nor does it come during a symmetrically bearish "dead spot", that dark recessionary interval of the business cycle when virtually all functions have been put in reverse and corporate executives wait behind a veil of uncertainty for the first glimmer of recovery.

Rather, the true measure of a corporation's executive team comes in its ability, or lack thereof, to manage polyphonically at critical points and turning points in the business cycle. At such points, the polyphonic corporation begins to harmonically blend both pro and counter cyclical strategies and tactics into an ever-changing and highly profitable mix as it presciently seeks to gain advantage over its rivals and position itself for the next sweet spot or dead zone.

In an increasingly global and fiercely competitive economy, the live between corporate success and failure is now being drawn by the ability, or lack thereof, of the modern executive team to first understand the business cycle in all of its strategies and tactical richness and the proactively manage that cycle for competitive advantage.

Procter and Gamble's executives were getting it right with archrival Kimberly-Clarke. This example further highlights the mismatch of implementing the corporate strategy to raise prices to boost revenues in recession even as it reinforces the executive's wisdom of cutting prices in recessionary times to build share. Here's how this very short story is unfolded.

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* Contributed by: -
N. Suman,
MBA First Year,
Vinod Gupta School of Management,
IIT Kharagpur.