When the credit crunch kicked in, economic leaders cried “gevalt”. Bastions of financial stability ceased to be.

With the ability of hindsight, we can pick out a few wise pundits who foresaw how to get through the meltdown, at least at the micro level of company management. In particular, I recall several articles from “The Economist” and “The Harvard Business Review” which called on CEOs to invest in marketing and growth activites.

Such geniuses pointed to historical evidence that many of the commercial giants of the last half century had originally emerged out of the gloom of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The Hebrew newspaper, Yediot, has just published a list of 10 local companies that came through the recession in a stronger position. You can find them in the retail sector, high tech, manufacturing, all over.

Seemingly, there is no one theme that connects them. A second look reveals otherwise. For example:-

• Strauss, a food manufacturer, specifically targeted overseas markets such as Brazil and America. That was despite the downturn in those countries.
• Azrieli has continued to build new shopping malls who improve existing premises
• Bezeq, the national telephone company, did not cease to offer new technologies and services.
• Teva, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of generic drugs, did not alter its policy of growth through takeover. 

iThe conclusion: In a recession, you can survive and grow through upping your marketing activities.

Naturally, there were many other individual factors, ranging from good management to pure luck. And of course, the steadying macro role of the Bank of Israel, led by Stanley Fischer, was critical.  But the basic point remains. Marketing or strategy rather than cutbacks is called for.

Quiksee, Israel, was started in 2007 on the edge of the impending economic tsunami. Developing interactive video mapping technologies, it was purchased this week by Google for around US$10 million.