Executives urged to maintain recession discipline

Executives working for international corporations should maintain the discipline implemented during the recession as recovery takes hold.

That is according to Angela Ahrendts, chief executive of Burberry, who suggested the strict leadership required during the downturn to ensure the survival of businesses can now be used to focus corporations' business models, the Financial Times reported.

This viewpoint was expressed at a roundtable discussion on 'leadership after the crisis', which was hosted by the media conglomerate Pearson.

Ms Ahrendts explained that this disciplined approach extends to the management of supply chains, customers' payments and the cutting of inventories.

According to the newspaper, she told attendees that the crisis had forced executives "to go back to basics", which is principal they should continue to use as economic conditions improve.

The prominent non-executive director Barbara Thomas Judge, who is chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, suggested that corporations must "never let a good crisis go to waste".

An international survey conducted in August by the consultancy firm Watson Wyatt discovered that the financial crisis has also increased the importance of executives' talent management strategies.