Does this sound like a recipe for disaster? Your business is throwing off loads of cash each year, available to be invested. You’ve cut costs like crazy, maybe a bit too much; customer care and new product research are starting to suffer. Wall Street is demanding significant growth, but you know (and are trying not to admit) it just can’t be found in the business as is.
A version of this article appeared in the June 2003 issue of Harvard Business Review.
