In the process of cost reduction, however, firms that recover profitability and discover ways to adapt to the new environment will gradually increase in number. Then, the way a firm overcomes structural problems itself will become a source of new growth.
This is the stage where firms take the offensive in that they implement comprehensive reform of their management system geared toward the new environment and invest in strategically important areas or new businesses. Though even at this stage there will exist not a few firms which are still defensive, the overall picture is that the economy will recover as structural reform progresses.