When economies shrink and companies struggle against recession, they are being forced to evaluate the capacity and efficiency of their organizational structures and business methods. The bad news in the short term is often that a number of employees are made redundant. But in a long-term perspective, the recession also offers some benefits. Among other things, it forces companies to be more careful about how to use their resources, it accelerates change, it encourage creativeness, and it thins out the competition.

In fact, any market downturn will make room for new business pportunities. With less money to spend, consumers will make more visits to discount stores. Repair businesses will benefit when people are looking to repair rather than replace worn items. Security companies will find new businesses as the economic dip causes higher crime rates. Pawn shops and repossession companies will look at brighter prospects. In fact, many companies that have come to existence during periods of recession are now well-known names in the global marketplace – for instance, Microsoft and IBM.

A current example of new business methods is the new Nano car from Tata Motors in India. These are grim times for car makers. With unsold new vehicles piling up in vacant lots around the globe and manufacturers crying for help from governments, this is not an easy time to be launching any new model, but a little out-of-the-box thinking may well make Tata’s new product launch a success.

That the little Nano will provide the cheapest form of motoring on four wheels is not a response to the recession. Tata Motors deliberately designed the vehicle from the outset to bring mobility to the millions who have only ever traveled by moped, the ubiquitous form of transportation in India. Now, with the Nano, you can be the proud owner of a car for the equivalent of just about $2,500. And although it represents very basic motoring, the Nano has won a lot of praise from the international motoring press for its efficient design.

Recently, however, the Tata Group has been feeling the pinch along with the rest of the world’s auto makers (and expensive acquisitions such as Jaguar/Land Rover have added to the company’s pain).

So, Tata has come up with an innovative way of financing the initial development and production of the car. The company sent out order forms to potential buyers throughout India, charging 300 rupees (about $6) to people who completed the order. What’s more, Tata will be building only 100,000 cars in the first batch and held a raffle in April to see which of the 203,000 orders “won” the opportunity to buy one.

Other companies are looking at combating the effects of market downturns by encouraging greater staff efficiency. Swedish company Ericsson, a world leader in the production of fixed and mobile communication infrastructure, has just launched a company-wide program called Personal Operational Excellence (POE). Aimed at all company employees, the initiative is designed to produce improvements across the entire company, ultimately having an influence on the company’s financial results.

POE should also help employees by identifying how individuals can simplify and improve their work. Some earlier research by Ericsson showed that 82 percent of employees were often in meetings, and 52 percent reckoned that they could save several hours a week if those meetings were more efficient. And nearly everyone felt that they received too many emails.

“Many employees feel that hours are wasted because of badly planned meetings and excessive email,” says Hossam Kandeel, who leads the program for Ericsson. “Inefficient meetings and too much email are problems for the company and can cause stress. But these are factors that we intend to fix. The greatest benefit is that people feel better without that stress. And if you feel better, you do a better job.”

The program centers around the idea that if employees plan their workdays carefully beforehand, they can complete their work tasks more efficiently and with less stressful distractions. There are a number of appointed ambassadors for the POE incentive spread throughout each business unit of Ericsson. These ambassadors spread their skills and knowledge to their colleagues. In addition, all employees can visit a dedicated internal POE website, which offers advice on how to conduct effective meetings, how not to waste time on emailing and how to make more efficient use of time throughout the day. “Think SMARTER” urges the internal information material that accompanies the program.

“One of the most important aspects of POE is that it is not a short-duration project,” Kandeel says. “Instead it’s part of a process of constant improvement to our everyday work. It is a new way of thinking.”