Business cycles come and go; little can be done to stop them. But some firms manage to handle both the tops and the bottoms profitably and rationally. Those that do have at least two characteristics in common: forward thinking and recognition that growth is not limitless.
The firms that are able to handle the ups and downs of the market base their business plans on looking forward three to five years, regardless of what's happening at the moment. They adjust their plans every year taking new technologies and markets into account, but the plan is always based on the future. They may appear to succumb to the fads of the day, but what really drives them is making sound business decisions and growing shareholder value.