Chris Bond's Book Review - "The Recession-Proof Business"
Posted by Tom Gledhill on Wed, May 11, 2011 @ 01:59 PM
This month's featured book is "The Recession-Proof Business" by Victor Cheng. In his sharp, 165-page work, Cheng offers "Lessons From the Greatest Recession Success Stories of All Time." Any business person who's had the steely nerve to navigate the past 30 months knows that a positive attitude is paramount in tough times, and Cheng drives that point home with his glass-half-full message. "When you bother to look for the problems that get worse in a recession, you will spot them," he writes. "When you understand the underlying dynamics behind these problems, opportunities suddenly become visible."
In "The Recession-Proof Business," Cheng focuses the reader on crucial mindsets by which to live in a recession. These beliefs center on: finding available money and opportunities (they are out there if you look hard enough); basing your decisions on facts (and avoiding negative headlines); exploiting opportunities that recessions create (as your competition cowers in a bunker); and having an adapt-or-die mindset (as it's speed, not size, that matters). He also outlines key rules, perhaps the most important of which is Rule #4: Market More Aggressively, Not Less. Cheng correctly notes that, when your competition is hunkering down, it doesn't take much effort to stand out. The last place to make cuts in a recession is in sales and marketing.
Okay, so you're understandably concerned that Cheng peppers his book with countless "how to survive... and thrive!" clichés. I'm happy to report that, although there were many opportunities to fall into that trap, the author avoids them almost entirely. Rather, Cheng draws inspiration from W. Chan Kim's and Renée Mauborgne's seminal 2005 book, "Blue Ocean Strategy." If you're looking for inspirational case studies for how to render your competition irrelevant, but not at the depths that Kim and Mauborgne reach, "The Recession-Proof Business" may just belong on your reading list. From HP to UPS, Price Club to Domino's, Cheng outlines the stories of companies that have prospered in recessions, and it all adds up to a satisfying book.
Good reading!
Chris