The current financial crisis is really global and has affected all the countries and industries. It seems that nobody is exempt by this crisis, but there are some exceptions…
Apple has announced the financial results for its fiscal 2009 first quarter ended December 27, 2008 and reports Best Quarterly Revenue and Earnings in Apple History iPod Sales Set New Record.

Tata Motors has unveiled a prototype of its Nano microcar at the Mumbai Auto Show in January 2008 while the auto industry is collapsing. BusinessWeek has a nice article about it, What Can Tata’s Nano Teach Detroit?

What do these two companies have in common? Innovation!

Apple has produced a breakthrough with its iPods and iPhones, Tata Motors with its Nano has created engineering and supply-chain breakthroughs to make a car that is to be sold for $2,500. 

In the BusinessWeek article there is a nice quote from Vijay Govindarajan, a professor at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and chief innovation consultant at General Electric (GE):

“Great companies are built on creating new markets, not increasing market share in existing ones.