How companies innovate in an economic downturn

Betty Liu, Executive Vice Chairman for NYSE Group, explains:

What kind of unicorns could come out of this economic downturn?

So, that's an interesting question, because inevitably in any crisis, they're going to be new ideas to solve problems. Those new ideas will likely lead to new companies and those new companies will likely become unicorns, the next generation of unicorns. So, if you think about it, Uber was born during the last recession. If you go back a few more decades, Hewlett Packard was born during the Great Depression. General Motors was founded during a recession in 1908. There was one study that was very interesting, it found that back in 2009, more than half of the Fortune 500 companies were founded during a recession or a bear market.

How are existing companies adapting to the downturn?

So, this is a time when companies rise to the occasion to find ways, better ways to serve their customers. Take, for instance, a company like Dollar General. What they've done is they've implemented senior hours, earlier closing times, as well as limiting products in order to serve their customers better. And you can find examples like that across the spectrum, across the business landscape.