NECESSITY TO INNOVATE

As the 2008 recession takes its toll on businesses and communities across the globe, one approach by businesses would be to simply cut back and hope to rise out the recessionary storm with a strategy to do as little as possible and go with the status quo.

Necessity to Innovate –
Bridging a deep water divide with a floating bridge is efficient innovative thinking

Another approach would be to use the recessionary affects as a necessity to drive change and adapt, through innovative thinking, and come out strong with a competitive advantage over your stagnant rivals. The entertainment, fashion, sporting and electronic industries all know that innovative thinking, irrespective of economical climates, is the only way to survive and gain competitive advantages to new revenue streams. For example, Apple Computer in the mid-1990s was facing record low sales and crippling financial losses, but under the innovative guidance of Steve Jobs, who restructured the company’s product lines and bought us the iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone and an entire Apple buying experience, steered Apple back to profitability. Similarly, the UK retail food giants are looking at their customer base; the recessionary impacts; public resentment towards the banks and taken the innovative steps of breaking into the financial services industry and offering current accounts and mortgages.

Innovation is a necessity against market downturns and a remedy to rejuvenate growth, so instead of putting off those ‘competitive edge’ and ‘efficiency drive’ projects, till times get better, do these projects now. If costs are an issue then may be outsourcing is a solution to implement your innovations and keeping those revenue lines flowing in recessionary times.

In an unforseen crisis, like the 2008 financial one, where would a rescue plan to bail out the ‘big’ BPO companies come from? Just like the Icelandic banks, are the governments of the countries in which the ‘big’ BPO’ companies incorporated, rich enough to underwrite them?