The Right — and Wrong — Ways to Cut Costs

When companies cut costs, they tend to trim spending across the board. But Cesare Mainardi, former CEO of global management consultancy Booz & Company, says that cost cutting should be a careful, strategic process.

In this episode you’ll learn how to ensure that your company’s strategic capabilities aren’t negatively affected by necessary cuts. You’ll also learn how top leadership can work with teams to understand the trade-offs involved in reducing costs.

Mainardi is now a business strategy author and professor. He’s the author of the book, Cut Costs, Grow Stronger: A Strategic Approach to What to Cut and What to Keep.

Key episode topics include: strategy, costing, reducing costs, leadership.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: How to Cut Costs – Strategically (2009)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org