Now's Not the Time to Stop Innovating

From McKinsey.com: "History suggests that even the deepest downturns can create huge opportunities for companies with money and ideas." McKinsey looks back at ideas that were nurtured during the Great Depression providing the foundations of growth to such storied companies as DuPont, Hewlett Packard (a start-up at the time), and Polaroid.

A further point worthy of remembering:

Although deep downturns are destructive, they can also have an upside. The Depression-era economist Joseph Schumpeter emphasized the positive consequences of downturns: the destruction of underperforming companies, the release of capital from dying sectors to new industries, and the movement of high-quality, skilled workers toward stronger employers. For companies with cash and ideas, history shows that downturns can provide enormous strategic opportunities.