商家在经济衰退中寻找商机

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

ARI SHAPIRO, host:

And I'm Ari Shapiro, sitting in for Steve Inskeep.

The last year has been terrible for many American companies. But it turns out a growing body of research suggests that some companies do quite well in recessions. The winners take advantage of opportunities that just don't exist when the economy is humming along.

Curt Nickisch reports from member station WBUR in Boston.

CURT NICKISCH: Darrell Rigby has a really hard job. He advises CEOs on what to do during a downturn as part of his work at the Boston consulting firm Bain & Company. He tells them to think of their companies as race cars careening around a track, where recessions are the curves. Rigby says it's hard for companies to pass each other during good times on the straightaway. The big companies stay in front on power alone.

Mr. DARRELL RIGBY (Bain & Company): But on a curve, curves are driven by strategic finesse, and so even a company that has less power, if it is skillfully maneuvered in curves, can pass much larger, much stronger competitors.

NICKISCH: Rigby has research that backs that up. It shows that market share changes more during a downturn than at any other time. Other research finds that a third of industry leaders come out of a recession as industry laggards. And laggards emerge as leaders. The reason, Rigby says, is that while people in businesses may spend less during recessions, they also spend differently, and that creates opportunities.

Mr. RIGBY: It's fascinating that during the last recession 2001, Apple launched the iPod. You see people like Zipcar rolling out their national strategy.

NICKISCH: In that case, people turned to the car-sharing company because they wanted to save money by getting rid of a vehicle. Another good example is EMC, a data-storage firm outside Boston. Vice President Frank Hauck joined the company back in 1990, when EMC was just a tiny player up against IBM.

Mr. FRANK HAUCK (Vice President, EMC): And our market share was 0.2 percent when I started, and I think IBM's share was in the 80's.

NICKISCH: But then came a recession. EMC's product offered clients more versatility right when they were looking for alternatives.

Mr. HAUCK: Once we saw that we could crack into the biggest accounts on Wall Street, I think that's when people thought anything was possible.

NICKISCH: Within a few years, EMC was a major player. Of course, it's easy in hindsight. It's a lot harder when you're in a downturn. Cash is tight. Everyone's panicking. Consultant Darrell Rigby says most companies focus too much on cost-cutting and forget to invest in growth.

Mr. RIGBY: At a time when others are pulling in their horns and hunkering down, it does leave opportunity because it's just easier pickings. There's not as much competition out there.

NICKISCH: Now that this recession is probably over, many companies are waking up to find that their competitors made bold moves during the bad times.

Mr. MIKE WITYNSKI (President, Shaw's Supermarkets): My name is Mike Witynski. I'm the president of Shaw's Supermarkets, and we are at the Chestnut Hills store.

NICKISCH: Witynski decided to build this new store during the recession. There's a panini station, a pasta bar and a brick oven pizza service. Witynski says Shaw's is appealing to people who like to eat out, but have cut back.

Mr. WITYNSKI: Great, restaurant-quality food, at much lower than restaurant prices.

NICKISCH: And you don't have to tip.

Mr. WITYNSKI: And you don't have to tip. That's right.

NICKISCH: Shoppers have also been reaching for fewer name-brand products on the shelves and buying Shaw's own store-brand stuff instead. Witynski invested in quality and marketing. He wants to keep those strong sales as times get better.

Mr. WITYNSKI: Those customers, they're not going to all of a sudden flip the switch and go back and start wanting to pay more.

NICKISCH: Recessions are tough on businesses and the people who work for them. But like race cars trying to build momentum for the straightaway, some companies are gaining market share by hitting the gas while they're still coming out of the curve.

For NPR News, I'm Curt Nickisch in Boston.