The text examines how companies cope with the pressures which are unleashed by recessions. It is based on a large scale survey undertaken in the spring of 1993 which involved the participation of more than 600 leading UK companies. The questionnaire data was combined with a long enough time-series of data on the financial performance of most of the companies to enable us to trace effects left over from the recession in the early 1980s. The main issues examined in the book are: what makes companies vulnerable to recessionary pressures? How do companies typically respond to these pressures? How have recessionary pressures been transmitted back into labour markets and what kinds of institutional changes have they induced? Finally, do recessionary pressures stimulate innovative activity?