The majority of British bosses believe the UK is heading for a recession and most have little or no experience of how to deal with a downturn.
That's the message from research by virtual business school Pentacle, which claims 69% of executives now fear the UK is heading into a recession or serious downturn.
It added that over 70% of senior management have very little experience of coping with such conditions, with 62% of executives estimating that under a quarter of senior staff at their firm had key senior positions at the time of the last recession in the UK in the early 1990s.
"After a long economic cycle with nearly 15 years of growth, most of those at the top of business today are used to vigorous expansion, ambitious projects and taking major risks, all with unwavering confidence," said Professor Eddie Obeng, director of Pentacle. "A strong economy has often protected them from the impact of bad decisions.
"For the Googles of this world, the closest they have been to a recession is post 9/11: a much more contained economic crisis than the global tightening we are now witnessing. The question is whether these same bold leaders have the expertise to adapt to much more challenging conditions."
Obeng is urging companies to conduct cost-benefit analysis to shape the business strategy over the next few months. "Management needs to identify the essential priorities for the business: those that are achievable, do not require unnecessary investment and will produce swift returns," he said.
The research also revealed that 74% of junior staff thought insecurity and "fear of the chop" were damaging staff morale. But only half of senior colleagues believe such a scenario will occur, although 71% said there would be a knee-jerk reaction of panic-firing once any downturn hit the bottom line.
Just 3% of those questioned now thought an economic recession in the UK was ‘highly unlikely'.
