A receita é fazer a mudança e não acreditar na magia, ou nas orações

Sei que o cuco existe, não nos podemos iludir.

Mas, para além disso:

"Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about the long-suffering manufacturing sector in the past year or so has been its silence. Just a few years ago, every rise in interest rates, every increase in the value of sterling, every jump in the oil price, was greeted with howls of indignation and dire warnings about job losses."

...

"Economists call this 'survivor bias': after a decade of buffeting from the strong pound and cut-price Asian competition, the weakest manufacturers have been eliminated in a long war of attrition. Those left behind are the most adaptable and innovative, and the least exposed to cheap competition. They have heeded the pleas of business leaders and politicians to confront globalisation by 'moving up the value chain' into high-spec, niche products."

...

"shift away from more price-sensitive goods, and the fact that companies are much more sophisticated in the way they source components and spread costs"

...

"This hard-won robustness should stand small firms in good stead in a slowdown - and could prove to be vital for insulating Britain's economy from the full impact of tightening credit conditions, as banks reassess their lending policies in the light of the US defaults."

Está cá tudo, está cá a receita toda, preto no branco, coisa que não conseguimos descortinar no "Relatório da Competitividade 2007".

Trechos retirados do artigo "...but battle-hardened UK firms fight on" do "The Observer" de domingo passado.