Page 191 - Accelerating out of the Great Recession

ACCELERATING OUT OF THE GREAT RECESSION

of insurance. And trying to offer customers the products and
features they want rather than forcing them to compromise has
led to developments such as the people carrier in the automobile
industry. For such breakthroughs to happen, however, the man-
agerial mind-set around growth needs to be in the right place.

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The Great Recession might be over, but the global economy
will remain damaged for many years to come. An era of slow
growth has begun, and the new realities of business life have
started to emerge. As with other major crises, the fallout from
the Great Recession—and the financial meltdown that pre-
ceded it—will continue to influence the global economy and the
way business is done for decades.
But, as we have explained in this book, this is not necessarily
bad news for all companies. Companies and their leaders will
have to get used to a time of heightened competition—but if to
the victor go the spoils in any economy, this is doubly the case
in a slow-growth economy. Those who take the initiative,
respond decisively to the challenge, find their own way of dif-
ferentiating themselves from less fleet-footed competitors, and
execute their strategies with single-minded determination can
still expect to grow. For those companies, the Great Recession
and its new realities present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

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