An increase in spirit during the reccession

As we looked to “Stress the Positives” for Stress Awareness Day, as reported in last months edition, one positive which has emerged is that the recession has been found to be boosting entrepreneurial spirit.

Individuals are increasingly following ideas for their own business, which they have previously been too frightened to pursue at the risk of their job security, particularly where they have been made redundant.

James Caan, of Dragon’s Den fame and Chief Executive of private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw, said that the recession is spurring on innovators. “When times are good and money keeps rolling into an employee's bank account, they don't take the time to think about the future … in fact, they tend not to think about their current situation at all. A recession is jarring and it forces people to reconsider their business situation."

Statistics from the Federation of Small Businesses show that there are 4.7 million small firms across the UK with over 500,000 people setting up their own business every year and those small businesses contribute over 50.1% of UK turnover. Furthermore, 64% of commercial innovations come from small firms.

It seems that small firms are leading the way in cutting edge business ideas so is there anything that larger businesses can learn from them?

Bernard Meyerson, Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of IBM’s systems and technology group, says that often businesses in a recession adopt the default position of attempting to save money until the recession is over but he comments “you're not going to save your way to greatness.”

So perhaps it is innovation and not procrastination which will provide a back door route out of the recession.

For more information about setting up your own business see the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website http://www.berr.gov.uk/# and HSEs webpages http://www.hse.gov.uk/business/getting-started.htm