The statistics say the economy is down just 5 per cent from its peak. From where I sit it feels a lot worse. Most companies I know have seen revenues fall by anything up to 20 per cent – and for a few the decline has been even more savage. No one I talk to can remember a tougher time to be in business.

So what can you do when your top line gets eviscerated? First of all, you cut costs like a dervish – just to stay solvent. But you cannot maintain that survival mentality forever. At some point every organisation has to progress or disintegrate. And in shrinking industries, for most businessess there is only one way to expand: you have to take market share.