Innovate, Innovate, Innovate
Ed Newton
23rd November 2009
The message from the Motley Fool is that the “only way out of recession is to innovate, break rules and hope that your ideas are better than your competitors”. According to Motley Fool about half of the Fortune 500 were founded during a recession, it can provide a fertile ground for new businesses.
Such an environment should be good for research and the ICG; we should be busy generating, testing and evaluating new ideas. My concern is that in these uncertain times instinct will result in companies minimising risk and continuing to cut budgets with a belief that you can save your way out of a recession. But as The Motley Fool says “Companies that use the current tough times as an excuse to de-emphasise innovation are going to severely regret it”
I would be interested to know if any of us has noticed a shift towards an increasing requirement for creativity. Perhaps we need a continuing dose of recession to get the economy back into growth!
Comments
Added at 10:59am on Tuesday 1st December 2009
I have noticed a definite lift in business in this last quarter. There certainly seems to be more optimism around - more enquiries that seem likely to convert. However, one down-side that I've noted is that nobody seems to build proper timescales into their projects any more. A consequence of delaying things owing to lack of confidence is perhaps that when the decision is finally made, it seems the results have to be delivered yesterday for it to be worthwhile. Is this just the usual last-minute panic in the run-up towards Christmas - or have clients got used to thinking it can all be done in the blink of eye because for the past year, suppliers have been so keen to get the work, they've agreed to unrealistic timescales?
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