Recession Storming: Thriving In Downturns Through Superior Marketing, Pricing And Product Strategies [Paperback]

Rupert M. Hart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2008

The #1 book on Marketing in a Recession on Amazon. com for over 3 years. It was published in early 2008, 9 months before it was announced that we had been in recession since December 2007. So you've cut costs, now what? You just can't cut your way to greatness and "Recession Storming" will get you out into action with new strategies to squeeze more revenue from your customers, increase margin by resisting price pressure, change the game with recession-specific product-offerings, and expand into new markets. There are over 100 marketing strategies from 80 companies from 5 recessions and 40 industry downturns. 5 star-rated by reviewers like you: "This book really amazed me for how practical its advice is." "Very practical ...Neat stuff, timely advice." Invaluable for business owners, marketing teams, investors and consultants. Just one idea will repay the price of the book many times over. Also available in extended version (with chapters on costs and acquisitions) as The "Recession Storming" Handbook of Recession & Recovery Strategy (qv). Reach the author at [e-mail]

Editorial Reviews

Review

5 star-rated by 44 Amazon.comreviewers like you: "This book really amazed me for how practical its advice is." "I loved this book!" "Very practical ...Neat stuff, timely advice."

Price for the book on Amazon.com is currently $15.95, originally $27.95, for 250 pages of 100 marketing strategies.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Rupert Hart has has over 2 decades of experience in advising companies on recession strategy, covering marketing, product development and financing. As an operating manager and marketing executive, he headed up product marketing for a subsidiary of Mazda Corporation, was active in management at E*Trade, and in venture-funded startups. He has consulted to Jaguar Cars, IDEO Product Design and Finnish giant Outokumpu Copper among others. Additionally he was a consultant at Bain & Co. He has appeared on BBC's Business Breakfast and in the International Herald Tribune. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, Europe's leading business school. This is his fourth business book. He lives in Northern California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (March 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1434849538
• ISBN-13: 978-1434849533
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #968,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #91 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Pricing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars helpful for small business owners, March 16, 2008

By 

Steve Reid (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Recession Storming: Thriving In Downturns Through Superior Marketing, Pricing And Product Strategies (Paperback)

I found this book extremely helpful for my business. Rupert Hart must have spent a long time researching all of the companies: lots of proven ideas.
Its easy to read format made it a quick read.
I found the following 3 strategies the most useful:
1) How to get more sales from my customers by convincing them to upgrade
2) How to figure out which products customers value so that I can hold the price on those items
3)How to come up with new products with recurring revenue to give a stable cash-flow
I liked the conversational style and the short paragraphs. It's easy to dissect useful information.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whirlwind summaries of business essentials and case studies for an economic downturn, April 9, 2008

By 

Angela M. Hey (Portola Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Recession Storming: Thriving In Downturns Through Superior Marketing, Pricing And Product Strategies (Paperback)

Rupert Hart tells the reader how to thrive in a recession by summarizing straightforward, no-nonsense, practical steps. He is a master of summarization and the précis - condensing typical content for Business Strategy 101 and Marketing 101 courses into 127 pages. He gives five areas of focus (a) Business environment, (b) Existing customers, (c) Pricing, (d) New products, (e) New markets, concluding with a chapter on integrating ideas from these sections.

Each section is peppered with case studies, taken from Rupert's experience and classic business literature. Some of them may seem dated, describing companies that no longer exist, like People's Express, or that have merged, like Ciba-Geigy. Since when was John Young, CEO of HP? At least John Chambers, also quoted, is still CEO of Cisco. However, business is business and Rupert races through the essentials with keen metaphors, e.g. not having enough market share is like trying to take water from a stream with your fingers spread out.

In the Business Environment section I particularly liked the section on managing company politics, e.g. "People on the board with no experience will make decisions for you." Too often, company cultures are politically correct and common-sense observations, addressed by Rupert, are missed because of the company's state-of-denial.

In the Existing Customers section, Rupert gets under the skin of how a customer feels. He tells the reader how the customer will be motivated and what to do about it.

The Pricing section, is full of reminders as to what to do when setting prices. If the sales people are negotiating away margins, then this book has ammunition to push back at them.

In the New Products section, I particularly liked the part about substituting products for services and vice versa. Sometimes a company is narrow-minded, or it wants to keep its valuation high, so sticks with a product, when moving to a service would keep the cash flowing.

A pragmatic approach to New Markets is suggested. Its too easy to leap at the next big segment, but Rupert cautions you to look carefully. He cites the travel market for retired boomers, large but with too many players. Instead he suggests selling insurance for adventure holidays, a related segment that is more easily targeted.

The detailed table of contents makes this an easy reference book to have on the shelf when a crisis occurs. A bibliography is given, as the book draws heavily on classic business writings. I'd have liked specific references throughout the book, but maybe that would have impeded the fast pace of the writing. So you may want to check out the reading list, that includes Peter Drucker's 1993 classic, Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Rupert cites the later 2006 edition. In fact, the book can be viewed as a historical review of business cases and strategies.

Anyone thinking of going to business school, can read this book and get an idea of key business topics. Current MBA students can use it for revision. In fact, you'll read this book quicker if you are familiar with academic business terms. If you haven't been to business school and want to know what you are missing, it could be useful to whip through the book.

For marketing managers and product managers, there are a bunch of ideas that will help you make your case when confronted with opposition from colleagues.

Consultants can use this book as the basis for a series of workshops based on the five sections.

Board members and CEOs of small businesses, might use the book as a memory jogger or idea generator.

Rupert is the pilot and whether you are ship's captain or deckhand it is up to you to think which of the ideas, case studies or quotations is relevant for your situation. I'd like to see a subsequent volume more applicable to Web 2.0 companies with more recent case studies and quotations, although the iPhone does get a mention.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Change Is Good, April 23, 2008

By 

Peter R. Christy (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Recession Storming: Thriving In Downturns Through Superior Marketing, Pricing And Product Strategies (Paperback)

When Cisco reported a sales slowdown in January 2008 during a quarterly telephone call, CEO John Chambers was quick to point out (a) that Cisco understood how to deal with showdown and (b) history showed that Cisco came out of the slowdown having gained market share and capitalization share from their competitors as result. Chambers may not look forward to a recession (belt-tightening isn't fun) but he knows what to do and how to benefit from it.

Recession Storming is a very valuable little handbook. If unlike Chambers you aren't prepared for slowdown (or more importantly, don't understand how to ultimately benefit from it) this book a great beginning point. Even if the basic idea isn't new to you you'll surely find some helpful topics and ideas to add to your recession toolkit.