• Instead of placing all their hopes in accurate forecasts of the economy, companies can place greater emphasis on ensuring that they are able to respond to economic change very rapidly when it occurs. At the bottom of the cycle, this can be facilitated by developing flexible production methods – for example, by retaining a list of trained part – time staff that can be called on at short notice, or having facilities to acquire excess capacity from collaborating firms overseas at very short notice. At the top of the cycle, the use of short – term contracts of employment can help a company to downsize rapidly at minimum cost. The development of ‘efficient customer response’ systems seeks to simplify supply chains so that orders can be fulfilled rapidly without the need to carry large stockholdings.