For a very long time leaders have stressed on the belief that CASH is king & has been said by not one but several visionaries.
Is cash really king is the question. In time of downturn where cash can certainly help to weather a storm what really can make or break a big or small company is how much the customers believe in the company's deliverance's and the value it is providing.
Where cash strapped customers are looking on ways to squeeze the last drop of value from their already over extended resources always tend to look for outfits that are able to provide the same
Companies that think not about the customers but about how many more line items we can add to the invoice will suffer in this economy and the effects of this impact will be long lasting.
On the otherside of the world lies the paradigm that Customer is King. Asian companies have traditionally been good at delivering value. Although the influence of west is changing this there still exists a lingering impact of previous consumer sentiment where products sold only by word of mouth and lasted lifetime.
Also as noted currently companies are seen to engineer products bound to fail much earlier than their expected life time to ensure that they are able to sell a replacement product which often the customer does not need given his requirements. Often time those are bundled with slew of unwanted features that most customers don't need but allows the justification for increase in product price.
US centric corporations need to a large extent absorb the value driven proposition of Asian companies and incorporate into their culture. That will lead them towards the road to survival not gouging on the customer for every minute and unperceived value they think they deliver.
