We’re in a recession. So why not buy cheap?

We’re in a recession. So why not buy cheap?

Have you gone shopping lately? Almost everything is on sale. You can bargain almost any retailer to a lower price. Shelves are overstocked. So if you’re an R&D manager, now may be the time to go cheap and get some bargain basement deals on you design tools. After all, now can’t be the time to invest in R&D and upgrade you organization.

NOT! Actually, going cheap in R&D is totally contrary to what the business world advises. Experts are saying that NOW is the best time to invest and increase the productivity of your R&D. Now is the time to invest in the development of world-beating products. Now is the time to fine tune your R&D organizations, produce products that beat the competition (and grab those dollars that ARE being spent), and, prepare yourself to emerge from the recession as a strong organization.

Forbes.com, McKinsey Quarterly, April, 2009: “Notably, the companies that get the greatest benefit from innovation appear to be taking a different approach. Executives at such companies are far likelier to say that they are increasing R&D budgets, expanding R&D activities and shifting to longer-term, higher-risk projects. These executives are also nearly twice as likely to report that their companies view the downturn as an opportunity to upgrade R&D. As such results suggest, companies that already excel at R&D seem to be using the crisis to extend their competitive advantage.”

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This applies to many aspects of the business. Invest in your designers’ education and teach them the basics of the most advanced IC and PCB technologies, and, when to use them. Invest in their training on how to efficiently implement these technologies using the design tools. Invest in the most advanced design tools so your designers are the most productive (R&D budgets), can use the most advanced technologies (competitive products), and get those products to market on time (time to market). But, whatever you do, now is NOT the time to pull back and go cheap!

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