Coping with the recession was the topic at yesterday's meeting of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce, and executives from four area businesses related how there's opportunity, despite the inevitable hardship, in the tough times we are experiencing.

Probably the most encouraging story of all was told by Edward Hurley of Peabody's Eastman Gelatine Corp.

A decade ago speculation was rife that the company, a presence in the city since 1930, would soon follow the path of too many other North Shore manufacturers — out of town or out of business. The market for its major product — the gelatine used for photographic film — was in fast decline and there were rumors owner Eastman Kodak would soon shut the place down.

But instead of surrendering to the advance of technology, the company went out and looked for other markets for its product. And it found that while traditional photography was on the way out, the demand for the high-quality gelatine it makes was on the rise in industries like pharmaceuticals and food manufacturing.

By expanding its market both domestically and globally, Eastman Gelatine continues to generate a profit for its parent company and in fact, Hurley pointed out, is the only Eastman Kodak division that won't be shedding employees this year.

Indeed, innovation and a willingness to embrace change characterized the messages all four company executives brought to the panel at Salem's Kernwood Country Club yesterday morning. For Osram Sylvania, which traces its roots to a company that made filaments for electric light bulbs in Middleton more than a century ago, the future is in light-emitting diodes (LEDs); for Peabody's JEOL USA, manufacturer of advanced scientific instrumentation like electron microscopes, it's the need for high-tech security and crime detection equipment; and for EBSCO Publishing of Ipswich, whose database is used by libraries and research intitutions throughout the world, it's the effort to transform itself from information aggregator to content provider.

The nation's first cotton mill opened its doors in North Beverly in 1788. Alexander Graham Bell made his first telephone call in what is now the Lyceum restaurant in downtown Salem in 1877. And Beverly's United Shoe Manufacturing Corp. once boasted more patents than any company in the world.

It's good to see that spirit of entrepreneurship is still flourishing here on the North Shore.