b'Economic OutlookPlan a Business Cycle Ahead to Set Your Business Up for Successby: ITR EconomicsE very company should have plans for when business is booming and when business is struggling. However, not many effectively plan for the future. But how can they? No one quite knows what the future holds for their business.While no one can be 100% sure, we at ITR Economics have a solid track record of helping businesses move forward with a high degree of confidence. When consulting, we help companies plan ahead with our accurate forecasts, expert insights, and exclusive four-phase business cycle. In fact, planning a business cycle ahead is a crucial part of setting your business up for success.What Is the ITR Economics Business Cycle?The ITR Economics business cycle divides performance into four distinct phases. It applies to individual businesses, industries, service providers, financial firms, and markets. The four phases are based on our rate-of-change methodology and are defined as Phase A, Recovery; Phase B, Accelerating Growth; Phase C, Slowing Growth; and Phase D, Recession.Understanding your place in the business cycle and knowing which phase will come next will help you make the right decisions for your company at the right time.There are many markets, key Leading Indicators, and datasets we leverage in order to reach conclusions. Key components such as US Industrial Production help provide us insight into where the US economy as a whole is headed. From there, it is a matter of determining specifically where your company fits into the overall economy. Each firm has leading and coincident indicators that can provide a realistic view into the future.Currently, US Industrial Production is in Phase C, Slowing Growth. With industrial growth slowing as we close out the year, many are speculating that the economy is headed toward a recession in 2023.As we look at the business cycle, it would appear that Phase D, Recession, is next. However, the business cycle doesnt always go from A to B to C to D.Businesses, industries, and markets can move from Phase C toward a hard landing or into a soft landing. A hard landing is what you might expectmoving out of Phase C and into the dreaded Phase D. But with a soft landing, the subject series may get close to the zero line in the business cycle, but the rate-of-change ultimately remains positive.In a soft landing then, the subject series bypasses recession by transitioning from Phase C right back into Phase B, Accelerating Growth.As we look at ITR Economics forecast for US Industrial Production in the chart below, we see that Phase C, Slowing 14 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'