Economists like to talk about ‘correction’ when viewing the economy.

They view the current trends in our economy and markets that are variously being called a ‘downturn’ , ‘credit crunch’ and even recession as a ‘correction’ after times of growth that one can only assume they viewed as incorrect, or as others would put it; times of growth or even boom times.

Whatever the language, there is no doubt rising interest rates, soaring fuel prices, and food costs have started to impact households and businesses too still have some tough times ahead.

I attended a recent CEO forum and the theme was about leadership in these uncertain times. Former Vector CEO Mark Franklin wisely said “not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed unless faced.”

We require leadership that will face the ‘corrections’ going on in business and take the right steps.

To my mind the right steps regarding property are going to be key to managing a business through these challenging times.

Our decisions regarding property, particularly location, are going to look very different in the near future. Fuel prices are going to have a significant impact on our work force’s choice of where to work. It is not going to be acceptable for many to travel right across the city to work, so we will need to think more and more about the accessibility of our location for our employees. Likewise, particularly in the retail sector, our clients and customers will think twice about the distance they will travel to do business with us.

For those businesses with a portfolio of leased properties, the mix of locations and the decisions staff and customers are going to make about how far they are prepared to travel is going to be a significant factor in decision making.

CEOs are going to need to stand up and lead, make some bold decisions about reshaping where and how they do business to match the rapidly changing shape of our ‘correcting’ economy.

This entry was posted on Monday 16th June 2008 and is filed under Property Strategy. Both comments and pings are currently closed.