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The CEO of Embraer, reflects on his company's dramatic ascent to its position as the world's leading regional aircraft manufacturer. Since becoming a private company, Embraer had successfully introduced seven commercial aircraft models to the market, including its latest, the 118-seat EMBRAER 195. Now, he is concerned because Embraer does not know what to expect from Bombardier, Boeing, and Airbus regarding their competitive response to his company's recent attacks on the commercial aircraft market. How would they respond to Embraer's successful launch of its recent family of jets? Would Bombardier really follow through with its launch of the CSeries? Would Airbus and Boeing perceive the latest attacks by Embraer and Bombardier as attacks on its own family of jets? Most importantly, given Embraer's expectations of rivals' future competitive moves, what should it do next to protect its position and influence its competitors' actions?

The article looks at how companies pursuing a three‐horizon growth strategy weathered the last economic downturn and what became of their growth initiatives.

The paper examines the financial performance and continued investment of three growing companies from 1996‐2004: Bombardier (Canada), Hutchison Whampoa (Hong Kong/China) and Disney (US).

The Bombardier, Disney and Hutchison Whampoa cases teach a powerful lesson about the importance of using investment in growth to manage uncertainty and limit downside risk.

While the focus of this article is on three companies only, the financial performances of a dozen other growing firms are examined over the same period for purposes of comparison.

Following the last downturn, companies sought to preserve the core and outsource non‐critical functions to reduce the cost of business. Some chose to sideline growth initiatives during this period. This article analyzes the outcomes for three companies that continued to invest in growth during and after this period.

This article addresses a series of questions. Is a three‐horizon growth strategy sustainable in a downturn? Have companies that pursued a three‐horizon strategy actually grown? Do they continue to finance the growth of horizon two and horizon three businesses? Have any viable options matured?