JERSEY companies will need to adapt quickly to the changing needs of their customers if they are to survive the recession.

That was the message to members of the Institute of Directors on Wednesday when consultant Andrew Blayney tackled the problems faced by small and medium-sized businesses.

Mr Blayney, who started his career as managing director of family business La Mare Vineyards, now lives in the UK but retains strong links with the Island.

From a UK perspective, he said, the recession had become a ‘morbid fascination’ and was now entering a deflationary period, with the Retail Price Index this week down to zero per cent.

Analysts were now forecasting that the number of business failures would go up this year from 22,000 to 36,000, and that one in 50 enterprises would fail to survive in 2010.

• Speaker Andrew Blayney (left) with Gary Drinkwater, chairman of the Jersey branch of the Institute of Directors. Picture by Matthew Hotton (00653141)