Growing During Tough Times

Surviving a downturn is one thing, growing amidst a tough market is another? I read a great article on the Harvard Business Blog I started tracking (Nick Hedges would approve) about Accelerating Performance Through a Downturn. There are some advantages to this strategy, in particular the competitive advantages that can be gained if successful. If it's hard work for you, imagine how it must be for your competitors. When most companies are just trying get by and maybe even cutting costs to survive, a downturn is a great opportunity to build infrastructure, invest in technology and hit the gas on sales and marketing. Once the market comes back, and it will, you'll be in better position to really make an impact. And as this article shows, many companies in second or third place in a market moved up a few notches while the competition wasn't paying attention to growth.