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Couldn't help feel more optimistic after skim reading this book. Have done the same with many other recession books that left me a bit cold and wondering what next.
Hart's book is well organized (into 5 sensible sections) and full of sensible suggestions too. I'm systematically working my way through it and applying some of the insights to my business and with some of my consulting clients.
Quite simply a must buy for businesses wanting to bust their way out of the recession obsession!
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A lot of managers only know internal driven insights to fight a recession. That means downsizing, cost-cutting or just wait till the storm weathers over. I found it revealing to discover how many applicable outward-looking insights are listed in this book. Recessions become just another situation to handle, not the one single situation nobody knows how to handle appropriately.
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This is a great business book and immensely timely. I recommend it highly.
Here's what I really like about Recession Storming:
It's full of actionable ideas that marketing and business development people, as well as business owners, can use today. I opened the book at random pages and immediately saw ideas I could use in my business.
The largest chapter in the book is Pricing, and it's very valuable. As Chairman of a large consulting company, we are often under price pressure in a recession. It's the first thing our business development folks reduce but it has tremendous impact on our margins. This Pricing chapter provides them with useful ammunition and ways of resisting this margin pressure. I particularly liked the way Rupert starts with ways to utilize better positioning as a way to resist price pushback, moving onto using game-changing pricing (like leasing, pay as you go, paying for results) which take the pressure off price, investigating ways of raising prices on certain products to claw back margin, managing price reductions in ways that do not destroy your price structure, and using marginal pricing a secret weapon against competitors who do not manage their costs well.
Since my business is developing new products and service for companies, I saw a lot of relevance in the New Products chapters. Rupert's clear thinking points out the enormous importance of Recurring Revenue strategies (i.e. getting a steady stream of revenue in a downturn) and how to configure your products and services for it. I liked the way he reminded us that products and services can be equivalent, which can help you end-run your old-timer competitors. And his emphasis throughout the book of doing the things you can do today and, only then, doing the things you can do tomorrow, together with the strategies to do just that, was powerful. For example, it's easy enough to find some ancillary services to add to your product-offering. You can do that quickly. That takes precedence over refreshing the product by changing the casing, say, and before embarking on a new product redesign. There are also some good ideas on speeding up development through outsourcing, collaboration, joint ventures and, of course (!) by using consultants.
It is a very readable book. Every right-hand page has a wonderful graphic at the top which makes it easy to see where you are in the book as you work your way through the 6 main sections. The pages themselves have small paragraphs which are easy to digest with relevant titles. The examples are numerous and well-considered. After a reminder of the classic examples (e.g. Gillette razor, People Express) Rupert moves on to some very up-to-date companies such as VMWare and Digikey, and other examples from 2008, even. We can learn from companies throughout the past, and in different countries. His reading was clearly comprehensive.
Recession Storming deserves a wide readership. Frankly, I would be amazed if you could not find a dozen new ideas for your business you couldn't start on today. Even one idea would be well worth the price of this book. Good work!
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As a Harvard MBA with several start-ups under my belt in good times and bad, I found this book quite refreshing. While most business books take 200 pages to present what should be an article, this one contains kernels of wisdom in nearly each paragraph, and packs a wallop in a short, tight read. It is like a refresher course in strategic marketing, from the macro-economic terrain to tactical maneuvers.
I highly recommend this book to those in large and small corporations who seek more effective ways to weather the current storm.
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"Death and Taxes" are sure bets in this life, but someone left out the word "Recession" in this saying. Hart, in refreshingly plain English, tackles this condition for effective business decision making in a free market economy. With brief and relevant case studies, the author illustrates how the business animal can "bob and weave" in turbulent times. This is a must read for all of us whose lives are directly impacted by economic fluctuations. A "HIGH 5" to Rupert Hart's craftmanship in "Recession Storming".
Michael Bini
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