Even though the economy has been dismal and unemployment has been on the rise, a fascinating phenomenon suggests that small businesses and boutique firms stand to gain customers in these trying times.  Let’s face it, whether times are good or bad small businesses have never been able to afford the luxury of being wasteful, inefficient, or careless with money.  Large corporations, on the other hand, which are bureaucratic by their very nature, have a tendency to become highly inefficient and wasteful when times are good.  When faced with an economic downturn, the inevitable occurs in a large corporation—mass downsizing resulting in a loss of valuable talent and customer service.  Consequently, the large name brand company that customers were paying for tends to lose its luster in the face of lost relationships and customer support.

Peter Bregman, CEO of Bregman Partners, Inc., a global management consulting firm, also believes that small companies will win in this economy.  He states that “Small is the new big.  Sustainable is the new growth.  Trust is the new competitive advantage.”  He says that “small companies with low overhead, reliable owners, a small number of committed employees, personal client relationships, and sustainable business models that drive a reasonable profit are the great opportunity of our time.”  To read more about Bregman’s point of view on this topic visit his article Why Small Companies Will Win in This Economy.

This question has been at the forefront of our minds for a long time.  Analysts, speculators, and business people alike have been desperately trying to wrap their minds around the enormity of this problem for the past few years.  According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the United States has been in a recession since December of 2007.

Economic insight and analysts from the Wall Street Journal speculate that the American people will have to hold out until 2010 for the National Bureau of Economic Research to make an end-of-recession declaration.  In Washington last week, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, however; publicly declared that the recession was over.  He did qualify this statement by saying that there would not be a “splashy return to economic boomtime anytime soon.”