Many companies are suffering in the current recession, and their leaders blame their struggles on the financial crisis.  Many of these explanations are too simplistic. Below are five myths about business failure in a downturn to watch out for.

Myth 1: The downturn caused our problems. For most industries facing serious problems right now, including big losers like automobiles and print media, the recession is not the ultimate cause of their suffering. Instead the downturn reveals (and aggravates) fundamental flaws in their business model. When the tide goes out, as Warren Buffett famously observed, you find out who has been swimming naked.  These business models were broken long before Lehman filed for bankruptcy, and will remain broken unless executives use the downturn to begin fixing them. Take General Motors. The automaker’s problems certainly did not originate with the current drop in consumer demand or higher retiree and medical costs. GM’s problems arise from the company’s inability, over decades, to make cars people wanted to buy. US car and light truck registrations more than doubled between 1970 (104 million) and 2006 (235 million). At the same time, GM’s market share collapsed from nearly 45% in 1970 to under 20% in 2009.