The experience in Asia during the past few years has provided new perspectives on the effects of crises. Following the collapse of the Thailand stock market on 2 July 1997, most Asian economies have faced economic downturn. The slow recovery resulted in many companies having hard times, and struggling to even survive. Another crisis occurred in Asia following the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in southern China during late 2002 and early 2003. The SARS crisis spread to many other Asian economies and even Canada, where the previously unknown disease killed a number of people. During the outbreak of SARS, the economic perspective was very pessimistic and many industries, especially tourism and retail, were hurt seriously. However, SARS was under control in May 2003, and since then the recovery of the economies has been very strong, even beyond the expectations of most economists and marketers.