Since people have to eat, the food business (unlike the snack food production industry) is recession-proof. Since snack food manufacturers know that consumers can choose not to purchase their products; they have employed a large amount of capital, technology, and branding expenditures and resources. These investments when combined with high customer loyalty have resulted in sales growth and high profit margins.

During the current crisis, customers are more likely to reduce snack spending, make purchases on promotion, and/or switch to private labels due to an increase in price sensitivity. Another challenge for snack food manufacturers is fluctuating commodity prices. Nevertheless, strong brand loyalty when combined with new product innovations and aggressive marketing tactics should help counter the unfavorable effects of the current recession.

Competition in the US snack food production industry is intense since the market is mature and saturated. Correspondingly, below are the key drivers manufacturers can utilize to either grow or maintain share.

Ability to secure key input supply contracts - to aid production planning and reduce procurement costs, manufacturers need reliable contracts with suppliers of key raw inputs including guaranteed supplies at fixed prices.

Ability to pass on price increases - for supplies without fixed prices, manufacturers need to continue to pass on unexpected cost increases to maintain profitability. The major players have been passing on cost increases to offset high energy and commodity prices due to the high brand value of their products. However, supermarkets and grocery stores (due to their increasing power from consolidation) could resist price increases and stock more of their own private labels to enhance profitability.

Ability to reserve desirable shelf space - to maximize retail sales, manufacturers must continue to seek coveted shelf space for their products. They should also expand (or continue expanding) into other distribution outlets which include discount and drug stores, convenience stores, and other locations with high foot traffic.

Ability to change via differentiation and innovation - manufacturers must anticipate, differentiate, and respond to changes in both consumer dietary trends and preferences to preserve or grow share. Demographic and population ethnicity shifts have resulted in new tastes and preferences, requiring manufacturers to change their product lines to meet these new requirements; by using healthier ingredients, product, labeling, packaging, marketing, and other innovations.

For example, consumers are becoming more health conscious and pressed for time and are increasing their consumption of convenient, healthy, and/or tasty snacks. As a result, the fruit and nut snack bars segment combined with low-sodium, low-fat, and organic snack food represent a growth opportunity.

Ability to endure consumer price sensitivity - consumer price sensitivity varies between product segments. Brand loyal consumers are not as sensitive to price changes due to the associated high image, reputation, and product quality perceptions. Likewise, a premium price is charged for products such as Oreo and Doritos. Nevertheless, consumer shifts to cheaper alternatives including cheaper substitutes such as chocolate and muffins and/or private labels could take place; especially for product segments not perceived as high quality.

Ability to thrive internationally - since saturation in the US market could eventually result in undesirable profit margins; manufacturers should continue to seek expansion in Canada, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Japan, and other countries.

The current crisis should not impact the snack food production industry too much. Nevertheless, manufacturers must continue to secure desirable distribution placement, receive attractive supplier contracts, differentiate, innovate, and seek international growth. Likewise, manufacturers will have a greater chance of growing or maintaining share, margin, and/or sales over the long term.

Since the fourth quarter of 2008, global demand in the dairy product production industry has declined due to the global economic crisis. Rising unemployment, declining wages, and supply increases (mainly from milk production in New Zealand) have resulted in less demand for world dairy products including milk and world dairy price declines.

Demand for dairy products in developing countries has significantly declined since dairy products are considered more of luxuries than necessities. In developed countries, consumers are projected to shift to cheaper dairy products including private labels and decrease consumption of discretionary dairy products.

For the past ten years, consumption of consumer fluid milk has decreased due to factors such as better convenience, advertising, and better packaging from substitute beverages, an increase in soy milk consumption, and a decrease in the children population.

So what can dairy product manufacturers do to profitably increase milk revenue over the long term? Industry consolidation, product development, marketing, and health campaigns are potential measures they could utilize.

1. Industry consolidation can yield access to milk supplies at good prices, inspire continuous investment in product technology and branding, and provide lower per unit costs and production efficiency - measures that are significant to preserve and/or acquire national retailer supply contracts.

2. Continued product development can result in increased milk sales. Flavored milk products with new flavors and energy boosters have been increasing.

3. Catering to the health consciousness of consumers via push and pull marketing strategies for healthier milk products such as value-added milk (milk with added vitamins, nutrients, or low carbs), organic milk, and reduced fat milk can also increase milk revenue.

These strategies could also help counter consumer shifts from branded organic milk to either private label organic milk or conventional milk.

4. Educating consumers such as young people (main dairy product customers) and baby boomers via more health campaigns about the significance of milk and calcium could result in an increase of daily milk consumption.

By utilizing the measures above, dairy product manufacturers can also help cushion or augment the effects of oil, energy, and raw milk price fluctuations on margin. What other measures could these manufacturers employ to help generate revenue and profit growth?

The current economic crisis has resulted in a decrease in assets under management and a decline in revenue for financial planning and advice firms. The crisis has also resulted in a decline of new potential revenue inflows into funds under advice due to an estimated decrease in discretionary income.

Since industry profitability and financial advisor productivity (due to spending more time reassuring clients) are expected to decline, experienced financial advisors currently are in very high demand.

There is high demand for experience financial advisors since they have higher assets under management, higher productivity, and significantly lower training costs. They also are more likely to receive new business from new clients interested in better asset management and from baby boomers interested in estate planning and retirement services.

Most importantly, experienced financial advisors generate large amounts of revenue from well established client bases by providing complex services to both high net worth and corporate clients - market segments that generate over 57% of the US financial planning and advice revenue.

A shortage of seasoned financial advisors exists although financial planning and advice industry’s employment has been growing. Industry recruitment cut backs in early 2000 and retirement are factors that have contributed to the shortage.

Likewise, instead of hiring and training more inexperienced advisors with lower assets under management and fewer clients, firms within this industry decided that it was more attractive to acquire advisors through acquisitions; contributing to the consolidation that has been taking place in the financial planning and advice industry.

Recently the addition of online access to advisory services, call centers, and teams (groups of advisors serving clients) has also occurred to decrease costs via greater economies of scale as a result of consolidation.

Since the fortunes of this industry are tied to the wealth of the population (which is expected to take time to recover), what else can firms do to control costs and overcome a shortage of experienced financial advisors during this period of declining revenue?