Recently I came across an article in the 'Wired Magazine' by Daniel Roth entitled 'Back to the garage'.
Recession has brought about many challenges for all in the coming days. Things do not seem to be promising, while some even say the worst is yet to come. But amidst all this the past recession or depresiions as you may call it have seen the birth of some of todays leading companies. This is the right time for companies to invest in new technologies and come up with breakthroughs as they no longer have to worry about competition.
The most memorable crucible in modern history is fo course the Great Depression writes Daniel. During that era several firms made huge bets that changed their fortunes and those of the world. Du Pont told one of its star scientists Wallace brothers to set aside basic research and concentrate on a profitable invention. this gave birth the revolutionizing invention of synthetic fabric 'Nylon'. IBM 's founder Thomas Watson built a new R&D centre. Douglas Aircraft debuted the DC-3. Bill Hewitt of HP committed to building the pocket calculator during the 1969-70 recession period. Also the 2001 dotcom led downturn led to the new startups like the jetblue and Six Apart.
By the end of current recession period many revolutisioning concepts would be born and new technologies would be at the fore-front.
Process industries would see a major change in the working and execution of projects and investments in research would pay off in the future. The way companies work out their policies in the coming months would be very interesting to follow. But the future definitely seems very promising; as all that is permanent is change.
