Resilient players in the distribution industry could emerge from these volatile times with a strategic advantage against competitors. Based on analysis by senior partner Kevin Sachs and colleagues of how industrial distributors performed through the Great Recession and during the recovery, from 2007 to 2011, outperformers experienced lower drops in margin during the downturn compared with nonresilient companies. Resilient distributors tended to focus on profitable growth during the slowdown and exhibited a heavy emphasis on category management.

In the last recession, resilient distributors did better across key financial metrics.

To read the article, see “How distributors can build momentum in a slowdown,” September 20, 2022.