What should businesses do in a recession? What decisions should they make about business development? What are the consequences of their decisions? Will they wreck the boat or miss the boat?

This excellent article from The New Yorker is food for thought and discusses these questions >>>

In the late nineteen-twenties, two companies—Kellogg and Post—dominated the market for packaged cereal. It was still a relatively new market: ready-to-eat cereal had been around for decades, but Americans didn’t see it as a real alternative to oatmeal or cream of wheat until the twenties. So, when the Depression hit, no one knew what would happen to consumer demand. Post did the predictable thing: it reined in expenses and cut back on advertising. But Kellogg doubled its ad budget, moved aggressively into radio advertising, and heavily pushed its new cereal, Rice Krispies. (Snap, Crackle, and Pop first appeared in the thirties.) By 1933, even as the economy cratered, Kellogg’s profits had risen almost thirty per cent and it had become what it remains today: the industry’s dominant player.

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Yesterday I was invited by Grant Thornton to discuss the Newsell strategy with 40 senior Partners and Consultants.

Partners are interested in two things: 1. helping their clients to survive and to grow their business and 2. how to grow their own business by acquiring new clients for Grant Thornton.

Therefore, they were also keen to discuss WOMBAT strategy about how to attract new clients by word of mouth and referrals.

Focusing on getting back to basics for the next business quarter of 0109, I discussed with the partners the most critical piece of advice they could offer their business clients: EFUX10.

EFUX10 is all about Escaping From Uncheck ten times more often.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, has joined the board of Apple. Now, Steve Jobs will have a hotline into Google’s thinking–useful, since Google, like Apple, is a secretive company.

Signalling the prospect of greater co-operation between the two companies, Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said Eric Schmidt would play a key part in shaping the company’s future strategy. “Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric’s insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead,” Jobs said. He added that Google CEO Schmidt would help to ensure products from Apple are brought to the market promptly.

Shares in Apple gained 1.7 per cent at $67.59 in morning deals in New York.

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