Don’t reduce Cannes to a cost-cutting exercise

The recent slowdown has led to a knee-jerk cost-cutting virus.I have, obviously, no objection to the concept of cost-cutting.Cost-cutting cannot be dictated by Excel. One cannot say, “travel is now 10% of cost, let’s make it 5%.”My objections are to decisions that make it mandatory to travel by economy or shifting from a five-star hotel to lesser accommodation.If your company’s CEO travels by business class rather than economy, the gains go far beyond his personal comfort.