Baseline default rates went from 3% to 11% after grace periods were introduced.

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Penalty fees, for starters, grace periods and other details.

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Dell, HP, Nokia and Research in Motion all reigned supreme in their product categories for long periods of time, and fell from grace hard because they did not notice or react quickly to the disruptions in technology around them.

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The saving grace for countries with entrepreneurial energy and sufficient startup capital is that periods like this sow the seeds of rebirth.

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