Support new business instead of propping up incumbent firms

The government asked Kingston University to produce the report to advise on how to help firms deal with the current economic slump. The team was led by Prof Robert Blackburn of the Faculty of Business and Law and analysed academic studies, news articles and business publications on the credit crunch The report, Business Strategies and Performance During Difficult Economic Conditions included recommendations such as an overhaul of the bankruptcy laws and encouraging previously unconnected industries to work together. The report also recommended that rather than focusing on cutting costs, firms must innovate and explore new ideas if they were to survive the recession. It warned that firms concentrating only on cutting costs would fail in an upturn through a lack of resources. Prof Blackburn said: "The government should focus more on supporting new business ideas rather than on propping up incumbent firms. The key to successful government intervention does not lie in persisting with business models that were appropriate in the past – or are currently under threat. Instead, successful intervention lies in breaking the frame and reinventing, not just for the organisation, but also the broader socio-economic political system within which business organisations operate."