by Ian Buchanan

Created on: March 11, 2008

That's a pretty wild generalization! It might be true in some sectors, but it's definitely not so in others, and in a global sense not every country has extremes between winter and summer that affect business intensity at all.

Some may think most people like summer holidays, and certainly school year schedules support that, but most businesses operate year round. Large companies schedule vacation time according to production requirements, and most hire seasonally (student staff) to keep business running throughout the year. While some plants have maintenance programs for a week or two during summer, and some countries have historically has summer shut down plans, productivity requirements now suggest traditional shut downs are less common today. New automotive plants are much more flexible than ever, and new model set up is much quicker than ever before. Business at large is more in tune with changing times than closing in July because that's how it has always been done.

It is true that many families try to get summer holidays with their children, but in large companies where holiday time is allocated by seniority, young families invariably must take children out of school to get that family holiday. The profile of work may change from season to season, but work itself continues. Companies plan according to the nature of their business, and both revenue and cost are budgeted according to these needs.

If the question relates to North America, winter plays just as much a part as spring and summer. Northerners head south, especially Snowbirds, and tourism in the south kicks into high gear. Spring Break fills the airways, the highways, the hotels, and the beaches and the whole hospitality economy booms whether in laundry or in golf. The summer season shifts the tourism business north and east to west, and off shore travel peaks. Through all of this Delta Bolts and Buckle still operates seven days a week in Topeka.

The fact is that an economy is the composite of all sectors, and each sector has its prime and secondary phases, and this is complicated by the fiscal year determinations across the board. Regardless, companies generally report quarter by quarter, and fourth quarter activity can be particularly driven by the state of the previous periods, all of which impacts on the importance of calendar seasons.

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