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Companies Born During Downturns
Procter & Gamble
Founded during: The Panic of 1837
Candle maker William Procter and soap maker James Gamble joined forces to start a small household-goods business in Cincinnati.IBM
Founded during: The Depression, 1873-1896
Three startups – the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company and the Computing Scale Corporation – developed technologies during this 23-year period that were in demand despite the sour economy. A time clock for recording workers’ hours, for example, was needed as industrial production at the end of the century surged. Also, a tabulating machine was vital during the immigration wave, to tally up the expanding population. These three companies merged in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, which changed its name to IBM several years later.FedEx
Founded during: The Oil Crisis of 1973
Entrepreneur Frederick W. Smith identified a pressing business need: important documents had to reach their destinations within one or two days. He incorporated a company called Federal Express in June 1971 and began operations in 1973 from Memphis International Airport.Photo by Procter & Gamble.
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Ryan Freed on February 9th, 2009 10:53 am
Rich,
This article sends a great message. It contradicts all the negative opinions about starting a business during a recession. However, now is a great time to start a business.
All those businesses mentioned above were fulfilling a recessionary need. IBM is a perfect example, because it was fixing problems in business in order to better the economy.
The only problem during a recession is that entrepreneurs may become discouraged. A true entrepreneur stays optimistic during hardships and fulfills a need within society.
cassy on February 9th, 2009 8:06 pm
i was really sad when FedEx closed their company her in our country and transfer it to china,coz of the economic crisis and aside from that,they transfer to china coz the chinese goverment offer a good low for business tax, that is the second reason aside from the down economy, almost 500 workers are loose their jobs here,but i cant blame Fedex, coz they are really hit by the down economy ,it is really sad to hear but that is truth, in business there are times to experience up and down but thats part of business!
Jaclyn on February 10th, 2009 11:19 am
I strongly agree…that article puts out a very extremely positive and inspiring message. if those companies could get started during a great depression and are still open today and doing pretty decent…that should be giving a new level of hope to business’ today that may be nervous about how they will do during the current recession. remember…the great depression was much worse condition’s then what we are experiencing today…so there’s always’ hope for your business.
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