Printing Business Panel NAPL Issues New State-of-the-Industry Report

Tracking sales growth of National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) Printing Business Panel members from 2000 to 2007, NAPL Research Center economists see variations from 50.1 percent sales growth to more than 20 percent sales loss, depending on the strategic path businesses followed. The results, which offer a cautionary lesson for printers now trying to deal with a fledgling recovery from the industry’s deepest recession on record, were revealed in the newly released NAPL State of the Industry Report, Ninth Edition, sponsored by Heidelberg.

Report co-author NAPL senior vice president and chief economist andrew paparozzi will look at what the economy holds in store for graphic communications and the key questions every executive should be asking to successfully move business forward in his session, “2011—What’s Ahead for the Industry?” at the new Vision 3 Summit leadership conference, March 13–16 at the Desert Springs J.W. Marriott Resort & Spa in Palm Desert, Calif.

The new State of the Industry Report follows four post-recession paths: Leaders’ Path, taken by those who prepared for recovery and focused on creating value for clients; Industry Path, by those who used recovery to buy time to adjust or just ride with the economic times; Temporary Boost Path, by those who made no substantive changes, rebounding with the recovery initially, then regressing quickly; and Out of Time Path, by those who never repositioned themselves to respond to structural change and consequently struggled before, during, and after recession.

“The same four paths will play out as recovery from the record recession of 2008-2010 progresses,” noted NAPL Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Andrew Paparozzi. “Companies will move from path to path, depending on who’s best prepared for our industry’s new era. No company—not even a Leader—is exempt. And no company is guaranteed even a modest share of recovery."