While there is a lack of consensus about whether the nation's economy is simply in recession, or on the brink of depression, one thing is clear: Most businesses are scrambling to find ways to deal with today's uncertain economic times.

Executives, managers and business owners are being forced to adopt new strategies for navigating the business downturn.

Over the past year, dozens of businesses in Hawai'i have closed, and many of those that remain have laid off employees and cut back operations as part of a survival strategy. Others have looked at the downturn as an opportunity to expand and position themselves for future growth.

The Advertiser talked with eight top local business and nonprofit executives from various sectors to find out how they're dealing with the economic downturn. (They appear in alphabetical order.)

What changes has your company or organization undertaken as a result of the deteriorating economy, and how is it positioning itself for an eventual recovery?

John Alford, president, Bike Hawaii Tours, a locally owned and operated company.

Bike Hawaii is giving extra close scrutiny of all expenditures. Direct phone calls to companies to negotiate better pricing. Suspending service for unneeded cell phones. As a small business, we are completely squeezed out of the current warehouse pricing. We have been required to: move again to seek lower overhead for survival; place one or two company vehicles into storage to save on expensive auto insurance; shop for more competitive rates on insurance; and cancel advertising contracts. Also, we are using http://www.Craigslist.com, looking for small shared warehousing at an affordable price reasonably close to Waikiki.

No layoffs have been required at this point. To help keep staff motivated, we switched medical insurance companies to save money, but kept the best medical plan with no loss of benefit package.

We are placing more value and time into Internet marketing and increased Web site marketing. We increased marketing efforts to vendors and come up with creative strategies for attractive specials.

We are using Google advertising as the only source of advertising and canceled paper advertising contracts.

Kelvin Bloom, president & CEO, Aston Hotels & Resorts.

Aston Hotels & Resorts has viewed this economic downturn and global crisis in confidence as an opportunity to expand and position our company for future growth.

We seized this opportunity to return to the name Aston Hotels & Resorts, not only for its existing recognition among travel agents, travel industry partners, owners and guests, but because of the strong brand heritage. Product enhancements are also under way with more being developed that will include amenities and activities to enliven our 26 properties and to distinguish us from the competition. We have continued with planned renovations at a number of our properties instead of putting them off to a later date.

From a marketing perspective, we are extolling the merits of a Hawai'i vacation and that our Islands offer a very competitively priced destination for travel in 2009. Another key component of the expanded marketing campaign has been an increased sales presence in Asia, with new sales offices in China and Korea, complementing an already well-established presence in Japan. The kama'aina market has always been strong as a year-round market for Aston, and we continue to aggressively promote specials like our Kamaaina K Class Pass that offers great rates, free upgrades, free parking and late check-outs at all our resorts.

Among the more traditional measures, we have adjusted our staffing levels to account for the changes in activity that are a natural consequence of less business. There are fewer rooms to clean, fewer guests to register, and fewer transactions to process through accounting. The result was some loss of positions within the company. We are also evaluating all agreements with suppliers, vendors and others with whom we conduct business to share in the sacrifices.

The economy has demanded for us to be more thoughtful about how we deploy our resources so that each activity we undertake accretes positively to our business. This has come in the form of applying technology solutions to what have historically been manual processes, abandoning reports which were produced out of habit rather than business relevance, and allowing attrition to assist in eliminating tasks that are no longer necessary.

David Carey, president & CEO, Outrigger Enterprises Group.

At Outrigger, we're working hard to respond to the challenges of the economic downturn. We are finding that many people still want to travel to Hawai'i, if it's affordable. So we are dramatically reducing our rates and making a dream Hawai'i vacation within reach of many families.

As a kama'aina company and primarily non-union company, we have an extraordinary covenant with our employees to do as much as we can to protect jobs. We have been as creative as possible in spreading the work around. We have encouraged vacations, leaves of absence and job sharing to try and keep as many people as possible working. In spite of all our creative efforts, however, we have had to make some layoffs. This has been particularly difficult as there have been very few instances in our history where layoffs have been necessary.

While we've always been prudent in our everyday expenditures, today it has become even more important that expenses in every category be closely scrutinized. Only those mission critical activities move forward. This has been a difficult attitude shift after coming off a period of great growth and prosperity. In spite of our strong balance sheet, however, our growth plans have been interrupted as the capital markets are still in complete disarray. While there are a few really important investments we will make, most will have to wait for better times.

Our Hawaiian values-based management style has helped us keep up morale during this challenging time. We have spent a great deal of time communicating to all of the Outrigger 'ohana to keep everyone honestly apprised of the current situation. We are also doing what we can to support our restaurants, shops and suppliers. We have concentrated on informing our political leaders of the critical need to maintain destination marketing momentum — a tough but necessary call in difficult times for our state.

Our entire corporate culture, from how we treat our guests, to how we treat one another, is shaped by the culture and values where we conduct business. These values continue to guide us as we navigate through these difficult times.

Mark Dunkerley, president and CEO, Hawaiian Airlines.

Compared to many other companies locally and globally, we have not had to take as dramatic steps as others. A large part of the reason for that is we've spent quite a bit of the last few years trying to prepare for the eventual economic downturn.

It helps being in a business as competitive as the airlines because each year you have to focus on your cost base, your revenue base and looking after your customers. Over the course of the last three years, we've taken very significant steps to reduce costs.

We had all of our large third-party contracts renegotiated. We have brought in all kinds of IT processes to reduce our cost of operations and make us more streamlined and efficient.

We have of course outsourced a number of activities. All of these things were steps that were taken before 2008. taken in anticipation of harder economic times ahead.

We have been very careful that while we have had the opportunity to grow, that we have done so in a way where we have improved employee productivity so that when the shoe is on the other foot we are operating more efficiently and more effectively. That helps insulate us from the need to take layoffs in the downturn.

With respect to keeping the staff engaged, I think staff generally do understand tough economic times. What's important is that management has a vision and a plan and can demonstrate that they are not just reaction to the situation of the moment but taking steps that make long-term sense.

We're investing very heavily in our products. We are keeping everybody focused not just on the short-term problems but the long-term opportunities.

The sky may be falling today, but over the long term we need to build a business and to grow and develop. Just as bad economic times are with us today, so, too, will good economic times return.

In terms of what's in front of the customer, we're not cutting back at all. The temptation may be to cut back, but that's not the best business decision. We find ways of being more efficient.

Eddie Flores Jr., CEO, L&L Drive-Inn restaurant chain, with about 55 stores in Hawai'i and 130 on the Mainland.

I've been through three or four slowdowns or recessions already. Basically, you have to try to find a way to increase the sales. The second thing to do is look at your bottom line and try to cut your expenses.

We look at items we can cut ... labor costs ... advertising ... we look at everything. The food costs are almost impossible to trim.

We used attrition (to reduce staff). I think we're down 10 or 15 percent (mostly on the Mainland). We have not (made wage or benefit cuts). You probably have to work harder than ever to motivate your workers to work harder. Everyone has to carry as a bigger load.

Advertising we have not cut down that much because advertising is based on a percentage of royalties we collect.

We're really looking at how we can maintain the sales. In times of a down economy, people will have a tendency to eat at the low end — at fast-food businesses — but still we have to fend off a lot of competition.

We've been introducing a lot of specials. We have to offer something of value for the customer so they feel they got a good deal. But if you look at L&L, our food is already a value meal. It's already cheap.

It's not business as usual if you want to maintain the sales. We have to attract more customers.

This year, we're anticipating opening anywhere from five to seven stores. In fact, we just opened up in New Zealand two weeks ago. But we're expecting some closures, too, on the Mainland. So at the end it will probably balance out to zero growth.

The areas we're having extreme problems with are (in California) — Sacramento, the East Bay area, Compton, the Inland Empire like Riverside. There is such a high foreclosure rate. You go to a shopping center, and half the shops are closed. How are you going to do business? That's a big challenge. If you look at California, Hawai'i is not really a bad place to do business.

Punky Pletan-Cross, CEO, Hale Kipa, a nonprofit providing a range of services for at-risk youths.

I've read more legislation, articles and been on more Web sites just trying to stay current. Whether it's the stimulus package, or plans being floated out of the White House, or what's going on at the Legislature.

To the extent we can, we're trying to track everything to get some sense of what way the wind is blowing.

That's one piece. The other thing is we've started to scale back infrastructure and have been more conservative in some of our thinking about our administrative operations. Since we would like to find a way to support programs at a point where cuts really come down.

At the same time I do agree with the president that there will be opportunities in this and kind of reminding the organization that a couple of years from now things should look better and we should be prepared for this, too.

We got some cuts that happened in July '08. We didn't reduce service. We cut management, middle management and then made some administrative changes.

We anticipate cuts before the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30. But it's very hard to say where the cuts will be.

I think the silver lining for most of us in the nonprofit sector is that we've finally been able to achieve full employment. When the economy was booming, hiring was a nightmare for us.

But I would also say every time we have a vacancy, we debate whether we should fill it because it could also be a position that could be cut.

We're talking to others about collaboration. This is an environment where being creative working together is really important.

John Schapperle, president & CEO, Island Insurance Cos., the largest locally owned and managed property and casualty insurance company.

The message we're sending to our employees is that we're not counting paper clips, but you want to be cautious in any utilization of resources. We also are cautious about how we're just spending money in day-to-day processes. We tell people think about spending the company's money as if it's your money.

We have not had to do any layoffs at all. It's unfortunate what's happening out there with some companies.

I talked to our employees a week ago Monday about some of the things that were going on in the state and on a national and world level. I don't think things have hit Hawai'i as hard as they have in other parts of world.

Every quarter, we have a staff meeting. I get up before all the employees and talk about our results. We basically go through all the numbers with everybody so everybody understands.

It's not just about whether you are counting paper clips, or are laying off people, it's all about transparency. It's about communicating. We've always been very customer service oriented.

In the last year, we've added one or two new agencies. It's kind of hard to expand here. We just work harder for business. (Schapperle said Island Insurance hasn't changed budgets or plans because of the downturn and is finding prior plans to improve service and efficiency are paying off during the downturn. That includes offering more training, new products and making it easier to quote and write policies through a Web site.)

A lot of those things were in the works. We just tried to plan for growth and trying to improve the company.

It's really just about trying to enhance our agency partner relationships. We've stepped that up, but not because of what's going on now.

Craig Watase, president Mark Development, a small real estate development and property management company with about 10 employees that primarily develops lower-income housing.

People say, what do you do? I say I'm a developer. They say, what do you develop? I say bald spots, rashes. ... We're fighting for our lives.

Our financing got cut out from under us. It was just horrible. I went everywhere looking for alternative financing from coast to coast and all the local banks, and nobody wanted to help. I recently negotiated an extension. ... I said (to our lender), Fine, take (the property) back, and they said, Oh, let's negotiate.

Last year, we were blazing on construction and the credit crunch hit. When they started changing credit requirements, half our buyers fell out. We were in the middle of construction on 20 homes and all of a sudden we ... got to go find new buyers. It took us all year to sell about 25 homes.

It wasn't that people didn't want to buy homes. They still want to buy homes. It was just they couldn't with the new credit requirements.

The lenders at the beginning of last year hadn't had to deal with (government loan programs), so for them to go back and start learning about FHA, USDA, VA loans ... it was something they had to get up to speed on. That helped us enable people to get loans.

We really did not drop our pricing. (Buyers) either have the credit or they don't. They either have the down payment or they don't. There's nothing wrong with the price.

On the cost side, we've gone back to our contractors and asked them to get the (subcontractors) to relook at what they can do (on pricing), but costs haven't necessarily gone down. It's just margins.

We run a small, lean crew (so no layoffs or wage cuts were necessary).

If I can sell a home, I'm going to sell a home. I'm not going to wait until my margins come back. I want to put contractors to work. We're trying not to hunker down because that's bad for the economy. We're slugging it out.