Paramus, NJ - With economic recovery from the graphic communications industry's deepest recession finally having begun, companies counting on improving conditions alone to revitalize their businesses may be in for an unpleasant surprise, according to the economists of the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) Research Center in the new NAPL State of the Industry Report, Ninth Edition.
 
"In the past, once the economy recovered, demand for print would grow and everything would return to normal, but now recovery is what we make it," notes NAPL Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Andrew Paparozzi. "Build productivity, competitiveness, and value to our clients, and we will participate fully in the recovery. Expect recovery alone to make everything right and we get left behind."
 
"An improving economy will act as a relief valve for the extreme pressure many businesses found themselves under during the recession, but a relief valve is temporary-it doesn't lead to a permanent fix and it doesn't create the changes needed to be successful going forward," says NAPL Senior Economist Joseph Vincenzino. "Those changes will have to be generated internally. In other words, we need to generate our own recovery-our own future-to be successful. Our new State of the Industry Report provides guidance and assistance for doing just that."
 
The new report shows printers how to take the steps necessary to make the most of economic recovery, starting with a careful assessment of what's happening in the commercial printing industry and what lies ahead, looking at four different industry post-recession paths and the impact of each on sales growth, providing a set of realistic sales expectations, reviewing the key lessons learned from the recession, and explaining how to develop the organizational flexibility and agility that are critical to future success.
 
"Recovery, like recession, comes with its own set of challenges," says NAPL President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph P. Truncale. "Understanding  the  cyclical  and  structural changes at play in our economy and
 
our industry-and knowing how to deal with them strategically and tactically-is critical to succeeding during this volatile time. The latest State of the Industry Report is an informed and thoughtful guide that can help every graphic communications company learn how to leverage change for growth and profitability. We are pleased to provide it to our members and to make it available to the industry at large."
 
The annual report is the flagship publication in NAPL's State of the Industry Series of comprehensive surveys, studies, and flash reports on current printing industry conditions and future trends. The State of the Industry Series is sponsored by Heidelberg. Each NAPL corporate member company receives a free copy of the 54-page report as a benefit of membership. Non-members may purchase it for $249 by logging on to www.napl.org or calling (800) 642-6275.
 
The State of the Industry Report, Ninth Edition, is based, in part, on data supplied by more than 450 industry companies located across the United States and Canada, with sales from under $1 million to more than $300 million. Authored by Paparozzi, Senior Economist Joseph Vincenzino, and former Research Associate Kong Lue Wang, it also features dozens of comments from respondents obtained through a series of follow-up interviews.
 
The report offers key actions to take to build a growth mentality, as well as a series of basic steps that will help company leaders learn from the recession and move their organizations forward, including specific approaches for positioning the company for growth, staffing for recovery, helping employees understand change, keeping clients, and networking effectively. It also includes a guide to organizational, operational, structural, and strategic flexibility, and ways to overcome challenges and roadblocks to executing new operational and strategic plans.
 
Learn more about NAPL Research Center economic studies and analysis at the NAPL BizTrends blog, and the NAPL State of the Industry and Performance Indicators blogs.