Even in the current economic environment there are opportunities for growth. For businesses with robust balance sheets and a steady and predictable cash flow, now is the time to prepare for likely opportunitites in the future.

To help make your company more robust, consider divesting struggling and non-core assets and take advantage of good prices to make acquisitions that will be a good strategic fit in the future.

If full-blown merger and acquisition is not for you, consider other alternatives. Joint ventures can enable companies to share capital expenditure and risk; asset swaps allow for the exchange of business and assets while cost-sharing mechanisms are a creative way of sharing the costs of core services with multiple users. Be innovative. There’s nothing like corporate belt-tightening for identifying ways to enhance or squeeze more out of your business. In fact, some of the greatest ideas — even the iPod — come out of recession.

Consider whether new markets, either internationally or at home, hold better prospects for your business.

Fortune, they say, favors the brave — seize the initiative and look for opportunities. KPMG’s transaction teams can help you here. Our firms’ professionals offer ideas, experience, independence and commitment to enable your company to be in position to take advantage of the new environment. On the other hand, these are extraordinary times and you may need to take extraordinary measures. Good clients may have become bad debts. Reliable suppliers may no longer be able to supply. Banks may not be lending. From underperforming businesses, to those in distress, KPMG’s restructuring professionals work alongside management, stakeholders and lenders to help make real improvements to cash flow, profit & loss and the corporate balance sheet.