ABSTRACT

Economy goes its own way, and there are both upturns and downturns. While people expect upturns and economic growth, downturns usually surprise societies at large as well as companies in particular. The crisis that affected world economy in 2007-2009 was a surprise to nearly everyone, including politicians and managers. It challenged every part of societies, including governments, organizations, and families. Governments were forced to make unpopular decisions, and companies were focused on cutting costs because of the dramatic sales decrease; for people, it signied necessity to pay more for products and services and pay closer attention to budgets. Markets also suffered strongly during crisis. Financial and stock markets noticed considerable loss of indexes, and labor markets noticed increased unemployment. The strongest consequences were, however, related to people and their life. People all over the world suffered from unemployment; self-employed faced difculties and frequently were forced to close businesses or at least suspend them.