For those of us that that were heavily involved in the high-tech boom of the 90′s, the current economic crisis is insult added to injury. But, with every cloud you can find a silver lining. One of the reasons technology companies have managed to weather the storm so well (so far… everything has a breaking point) is that they (those that survived the dot.bomb) learned business survival strategies such as:
- Invest in marketing initiatives with fast and measurable ROIs
- Test market (“vaporware”)
- Tighten lead management practices
- Leverage new technologies (“sales 2.0″)
- Instead of counting on a steady flood of new customers, deepen relationships with existing ones
- Get paid in advance as much as possible!
- Reduce unnecessary expenses
- Incorporate accountability and transparency throughout the organization
- Treat your employees as partners and customers
- …and many more…
My point is that, as the economy founders, we should look to those industries that are surviving or even doing well for leadership. We need to find the 20% of industries that could account for 80% of the American recovery. I propose that the tech, and perhaps bio-tech industries will play a major role in re-defining our economic future.
