Having been around a while, here are my two cents on the matter. When the economy is good you can be sloppy and still sell stuff and also, as a company - grow. Leaders who get the tap to move up are mostly in the right place at the right time, superficially prepared - but hey we need a body over there and oh my, the individual posses the gold card MBA. Yeah it's more complicated but that's the gist. The reasoning is that person SHOULD understand how to sharpen a pencil, optimize something and get in step with the program. Now when things go to h-ll and you need deep knowledge (because you've already planned how to fill the gaps of the good people you had to jettison to make the budget) and bold creative problem solvers need to step up. Guess what? Those people with battle tested attributes aren't around in any numbers. What you have is a large population of middle and senior management that is trained to keep their head down while they lead the under-experienced, and sorry Virginia there is no Santa Clause. It happens everywhere. So not to throw rocks at the whole B-School gig, but I don't think they study downsizing an organization, the value identifying key technical and manufacturing expertise of how to inspire talent in the face of doing more with less. That often requires rolling your sleeves up and pitching in yourself. Seeing when to fight to retain people while managing a payroll that competitors often see more value in snatching away that person than the home team does. So they leave and you start over, or give up. Yep, then when the big storm hits some teams do ok, others collapse. The organization is as strong as its most important weakest link. My advice to whoever cares, build your leadership out of depth in product knowledge, find compassionate people who actually care about the company and the people they lead.
Only then look for business acumen. Select those candidates who have all the pieces or go without.
I agree that superficially the CEO will execute the boards directives. But I have never been to a board meeting, and I have been to many, where the CEO just jots down notes and then goes back to the office to drop the hammer. Nope, there are debates, proposals, SWOT discussions and scenario analysis that all gets put on the table before the tough decisions are made. Sadly much of that is too confidential to cascade down the line, but it happens. If the leadership at any level fails to flag a bad call or plan on the front end, you may end up with a lot of gaps and unsolvable problems in implementing. So you change course and everybody thinks - wtf? If on the other hand management do their jobs well, although never pleasant, the storm can be weathered just fine.
As for cost control, you have to manage cost creep every day and quality every time you switch a supplier. Maybe the stuff is made off shore, maybe not. Failing to prove it has the same FFF including reliability is a dangerous game to play. Taking short cuts to make production is like rolling the dice.
Happy 4th everybody.