ABSTRACT
All forms of life compete in a continual battle of wits for possession of limited resources, and there is a constant need to overcome adversities in the environment. In the economic recession of the early 1970s, return on investment and market share objectives were abandoned altogether and replaced by a more fundamental objective–survival. The goal of many companies was just to keep the infrastructure intact, so that they could aim at profitability objectives some other time. By the time the economic recession of 1990 took place, organizations that still survived in the private sector were much leaner and faster to react. Many had also enjoyed a period of prosperity provided by the unbridled spending of the public service on one hand and the baby-boom generation on the other. Most business management skills normally marshalled to create or respond to opportunities in the marketplace were rejected in favor of reducing business costs and sharpening accountancy skills to weather the economic storm.
