FTI Journal

Companies across the U.S. are adjusting to the “new normal”, a term widely used to describe the changed business landscape that has emerged as companies respond to persistently weak demand for their products and services. The good news about the “new normal” is that corporate cutbacks have regenerated earnings growth from recession lows despite still weak top line numbers – witness the better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings reported by many U.S. retailers despite mostly uninspired sales results for the 2009 holiday season. The bad news is that, in many instances, the severity of these corporate cutbacks reflects the expectation among senior executives that demand is destined to remain below pre-recession levels for the foreseeable future. The “new normal” looks different across industry sectors, so we asked several FTI industry experts what this term means to them.