A much extended recession, a collapse of the US dollar, and The Big One finally hitting Tokyo? What will 2009 have in store for us? Check out our predictions.

Performance expectations by senior management. Clearly this is important, because if in their general worry your management feel that sales people should suddenly be able to double or triple their productivity, then your job is in peril.

Today's column is for the sales people amongst us. The average smaller Japanese services company has somewhere between 30% and 50% of its employees working in sales, either as sales people and account managers or as support staff - so we're talking about a good chunk of the workforce.

Tough times knock sentiment, but it could be worse, right?