We are gathered here today to commit our good friend MFI to the metaphorical ground. I apologise that we didn't hold this funeral earlier but we've been waiting six weeks for the coffin to arrive.

It was hardly a dignified end though was it? A friend of mine drove past an MFI last week and saw a line of builders' vans parked up with their back doors open and stock bulging out - presumably bought at vastly reduced prices to go in a lock up somewhere before it can be sold on with a healthy margin.

And that, in the end, is what went wrong with MFI, it simply wasn't very good at getting itself out of the 'discount kitchen' bracket no matter how hard it tried. The image it had in its head didn't match up with the image in the mirror.

This is what killed off Woolworths too, it simply didn't know what it was anymore. When they announced it was going into administration the BBC asked people in the street what it meant to them and virtually everyone said 'pick and mix'. But Woolworths sold toys, CDs, school uniforms, garden tools, soft furnishings and plenty of other things - however, it did none of these in a way that stood out. In fact, everything on that list was available at Tesco or Sainsburys and Woolworths' usefulness had simply ran out.

Compare this to WH Smiths, a similar old school business that has managed to hold onto its customers by clearly defining what it is. If you asked the same people in the street what WH Smiths meant to them they would come up with a much more confident and comprehensive list - stationery, wrapping paper, greetings cards, books, and magazines. It also does CDs, games, DVDs and various other knick knacks like Woolies did, but its core purpose is clear - the customer knows why it goes there rather than somewhere else.

As boring as it sounds, the real key to surviving a downturn is perhaps simply to know your business and know exactly what it is you do - and do it as well as possible. Is that as easy as it sounds though? Can you describe yourself in a couple of paragraphs? If I asked you who your target customer was, could you answer it succinctly?

I've always slightly shuddered at the idea of corporate mission statements, but there is a case for trying to define your business and its aims in a short snappy way. The businesses that survive this downturn will be the ones who know who they are, what they do, who they're aimed at and what their short, medium and long term plans and goals are - and are willing to change any of them to adapt to the climate.

Efficiency, good management, healthy marketing, strong sales technique, product knowledge, keen eye for market trends - the key to survival is staring everyone in the face isn't it?

Andrew Davies, editor

andrew@kbbreview.com