The newspapers would have us believe that NSW is in recession. But is it really? The consensus of most of our small to medium sized clients is that business is unchanged, but they are tightening their purse strings just in case. Everyone seems to be looking at cutting costs just in case.
Whilst I did see a change in the last quarter of 2008, I am not sure whether many of the small to medium businesses that we work with are actually putting off staff but they are reducing costs.
That makes sense to me.
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5 comments:
I dont think this phenomenon is unique to NSW. I live in Victoria and have noticed a similar over-cautiousness by businesses and consumers alike. I think the media has a lot to answer for in creating a climate of fear and in effect worsening whatever economic issues actually do exist. I personally think its about time people started taking stock of what is actually going on and realise that the media has a vested interest in creating hype.
I must admit that I too am a sucker for big brands. There is just something about the sense of security and quality assurance that comes with purchasing a big brand.
Good luck with the Callaways!
Craxed I have to say that I agree with you - the media have been far from helpful over the last few months. As the owner of a small business myself I feel that the current economic climate is somewhat of a double edged sword. Whilst we are definitely watching our outgoing costs extremely closely, we also see this as a time of gret opportunity. Many of our direct competitors are a lot larger than us and as a result have larger overheads to cover and have been far less quick to respond to the changing market. We feel that if we use continue to market ourselves during this time we will actually gain market share and be in a much stronger position in say a year, than we were before the economic crisis. So it's not all bad!
I have to agree with Craxed. The recession hype isn't just reduced to NSW. The media tell us what to think and we are being told that we are in a recession. What the media should be doing is taking the opportunity to educate and properly inform the general public and business sectors.
I also agree with craxed. I think that the phenomenon is not just limited to NSW. I am from the US and I know that the recession over in the states is far worse than it is in Australia. I think that the media is creating this to make it seem worse than it is so this generates fear in people. I also think that by businesses being on the safe side and tightening up their budgets, they are doing a good thing so that the recession does not affect the companies as much as it has in the states.
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