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This study analyzes the trends and patterns of strategic and innovative macroeconomic variables during recession or slowdown periods of 10 countries – Brazil, the United States, UK, Germany, France, China, Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea for the period 1980–2018, which includes major recessions like the 1982 debt crisis, 1991 economic crisis, 1997 Asian Financial crisis, and 2008 Sub-prime crisis. This study devised two models – Logistic Regression and a Range-based Custom-Made Recession-cum-Economy State indicator, based on Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) model parameters. Results for the logistic regression model show that most of the marginal effect values are positive for variables linked with globalization indicating that increase in adverse impact on such variables increases the probability of recession. The custom-made statistical index provides an individual country-wise range, along with a global range for the weighted total of the variables, the weights for which are derived from the DOLS model, which has a 59.66% accuracy in estimating the condition of an economy. The recent worldwide experience indicates that probability of recessions has decreased, and slowdowns have increased over a period. This is evident from the Cumulative Trend of Economic State analysis that indicates that the recession probabilities of countries have decreased 1990 and that of slowdown have become highly volatile.

This paper outlines the results of research analysing the impact of the recession of 2008‐2009 on public libraries in the Midlands region of the UK. Specifically, it explores the validity of James' “librarian's axiom” in this context, which proposes that use of public libraries increases during a recession.

Analysis of usage data from two public library authorities gathered through a specially designed questionnaire was supported by interviews with library staff from four authorities, working at both operational and strategic levels.

The results show that the credit crunch had an impact on use of public libraries in the Midlands, thus supporting James' axiom. The principal finding is that more people used libraries during the recession, particularly for job‐seeking activities, advice and training. It also emerged that public libraries recognised that the credit crunch provided them with an opportunity to promote their free and low‐cost activities, as well as develop new services to respond to the information needs of library users in a recession.

Only four library services participated in the research; a larger sample would have provided a more complete picture of the impact of the recession on public libraries. There were also issues with data collection at library authority level, which meant that not all data sets were complete.

The paper provides stakeholders within the sector with valuable evidence of the impact of public libraries on vulnerable members of the community during a time of national crisis. It also suggests areas for improvement including strengthening links with relevant local organisations.

This paper reports the first UK‐based empirical study of the impact of the recent recession on public libraries.

This paper aims to identify the critical factors causing construction disputes in small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland during the recent recession period from 2007 to 2013.

This study used a mixed-method approach incorporating a literature review, case studies and questionnaire survey, with results analysed using exploratory (data reduction) factor analysis.

The results indicate seven core critical factors which result in construction disputes in SMEs in Ireland during a recession: payment and extras; physical work conditions; poor financial/legal practise; changes to the agreed scope of works; time overrun; defects; and requests for increase in speed of project and long-term defects.

With Ireland emerging from the current economic recession and the prevalence of SMEs in the construction sector, it is essential to document the core critical factors of construction disputes which emerge within this particular segment of the built environment.

To address the adversarial nature of the construction sector and the prevalence of SMEs, it is essential to identify and document the critical factors of construction disputes within this remit. It is envisaged that the results of this research will be acknowledged, and the recommendations adopted, by construction SMEs, particularly within Ireland, as they emerge from the economic recession.

This paper fulfils a gap in knowledge with the emergence of the economic recession and the identification of critical factors of construction dispute within SMEs in the Irish construction industry.

This paper aims to determine what the brand performance consequences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities would be during times of recession for well-known brands.

Based on signaling theory, this paper investigates if CSR activities serve to signal higher brand value for consumers via perceptions of better quality and greater differentiation, specifically during recessions. This study incorporates a representative longitudinal sample of known US firms for the analyses, which is accomplished through generalized method of moments estimations.

The findings empirically demonstrate that CSR initiatives during recessions are actually associated with increased perceptions of brand value. More specifically, during recessions, CSR initiatives such as charitable contributions provide a signal to customers of higher brand quality.

This study did not control for the costs of doing specific CSR activities that may be less visible to consumers.

While individual firms or managers may not be able to prevent recessions from happening, they can limit the negative impact of recessions on their performance by engaging in CSR activities (or refrain from cutting back) during these times.

Because CSR initiatives during recessions result in more favorable consumer perceptions of the brand, engaging in CSR aligns both social and managerial interests, owing to the economic gains from CSR investments.

During times of recession, some critics indicate that CSR may be an unaffordable luxury. On the contrary, this research shows that managers may want to consider CSR activities as a means of increasing the value of their brands, especially during economic recessions.

In light of the increased level of uncertainty in the economy, and the need for companies to make critical short‐term strategic and tactical decisions under these stressful conditions, the paper aims to propose that short‐term economic scenarios can help managers cope with uncertainty.

The paper asserts that there is no logical reason why a scenario approach must be restricted to extremely long‐term decisions; nor is there any legitimate bar to using scenario planning to make short‐term economic decisions in an uncertain, recessionary environment.

The Futures Strategy Group has developed a set of four customizable short‐term economic scenarios called the Recession/Recovery Decision Matrix ™.

It is precisely now, when in a painful recession management is bogged down in “the tyranny of the present,” that scenario planning is especially crucial.

These scenarios, which cover quite a broad range of plausible recession/recovery eventualities, allow clients to perform due diligence on short‐term, critical decisions within a brief period of time.

The purpose of this research is to examine how social capital derived through supply chain networks can help small businesses survive in times of a recession.

A theoretical framework with the respective propositions is developed, based upon an extensive literature review and a synthesis of evidence from the recent recession in the USA.

Small businesses need to invest in creating structural, relational and social capital prior to a recession in order to protect themselves from the additional uncertainty. Small businesses can develop social capital relatively easily and inexpensively through their supply chains.

This is the first study that directly investigates relationships among small businesses, social capital, supply chain, and recession. The findings should have a broad effect for countless communities throughout the USA as they depend on small businesses to be drivers of employment and state and local taxes.

As the contemporary recession has unfolded in the United Kingdom, increasing reliance has been placed by the government on measures of employment subsidisation to contain the accompanying rise in unemployment. Employment subsidy programmes of varying natures have also been introduced in a large number of other Western countries, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Finland, Sweden and Ireland.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the UK workforce in general has experienced a period of stagnant and falling wages in both nominal and real terms. The main parties involved remain unsure of the consequences from such a historically unusual phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explore the main effect on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of those employees who had experienced pay reductions (nominal wage cuts or pay freezes under a positive inflation rate) as compared with those who experienced nominal pay rises during the recent recession; and second, to examine the moderating effect of employee involvement (EI) practices on that relationship. This was done by using aggregated employee perception data to measure organizational EI practices.

Employee-employer matched data were used, involving 8,489 employees and their associated 497 organizations (medium or large sized). The number of employees from each organization was between 15 and 25. The data used were extracted from the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study in the UK to which the authors applied hierarchical linear regression in STATA 13.

The results indicate that when compared with those employees who had nominal pay rises during the recession, employees who had wage cuts or freezes (with 5 percent inflation rate) are significantly and negatively associated with their job satisfaction and organizational commitment, even when controlling for important variables such as perception of job insecurity and the degree of adverse impact caused by recession on the organization studied. That is to say, facing the same perception of job loss, those who experienced pay reductions are significantly unhappier and less committed than those who had pay rises. However, the adverse effect of pay reductions on employees’ work attitudes is much less in workplaces characterized by a high, as opposed to a low level, of EI practices.

Implications, limitations, and further research issues are discussed in light of current employment relations’ practices.

The intention is to extend the current debate on employment relations under adverse changes such as pay reductions. Thus, the unique contribution of this study is to examine the value of EI in modifying extreme employee reactions to adverse changes.

Despite the episodic pervasiveness of recessions and their destructive impact on firms, a void exists in the management literature examining the intersection between recessions, strategy, and performance. This paper seeks directly to address this research void by reviewing relevant literature spanning the past 20 years and building an integrative framework for future research efforts.

The paper systematically reviews and compartmentalizes articles on the intersection between firm strategy and economic recession published between 1991 and 2010 in widely recognized management and entrepreneurship journals. Concurrently, a theoretical framework is proposed which identifies distinct constructs and linkages related to economic recessions, strategy, and performance.

The findings are twofold. First, the review distils disparate scholarly works on firm behavior and recessions to provide a systematic appraisal and review of what people know and do not know about managing firms through economic downturn. Second, the conceptual framework points to numerous opportunities to scholars interested in conducting research on this timely and important topic.

The paper answers a call by scholars for research that fills a void on systematic diagnosis, prescription, or prophylaxis that can guide managers through recessions.

This paper represents the only research initiative to systematically bring a comprehensive overview of firm strategy in the context of recessionary environments. In effect, it addresses the larger research question: “What do we know about the interplay between firm strategy and recession?”

Strategy is ultimately aimed at creating shareholder value. We examine the relationship among intrinsic (DCF) value, market value, and the value of growth options using a “perfect foresight” model. Our findings suggest that Kester's (1984) initial assessment of growth option values may not hold under alternative valuation models. We highlight important issues in the valuation of growth options related to market expectations, modeling assumptions and estimation methods. The findings suggest that the firm's growth option value depends on three factors, each of which impacts investor expectations: (1) the macroeconomic environment; (2) the industry in which the firm participates; and (3) firm specific factors.