Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the behaviour of European firms inthe time of the economic crisis in 2008-2009. We analyse the determinants of proactivestrategies in the context of innovation and the range of products offered by everyfirm on the market.Research Design & Methods: Based on a large and representative sample of 14 750(EFIGE dataset) firms from Austria, Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain and the UK,we estimate the logit model for two measures of proactive strategy: the investmentbehaviour and the introduction of new products on the market.Findings: We find evidence that the experience of the former crisis by the company isassociated with the adoption of proactive behaviour in the case of investments ininnovation, and reactive behaviour in the case of the product offer range.Implications & Recommendations: As the public support for innovative investmentsproved to be rather ineffective, the most promising direction for public policies in thetimes of crisis are those that facilitate the access to external financing.Contribution & Value Added: Our paper contributes to the development ofknowledge on the dynamics of company behaviour in the wake of the economic crisisin 2008, and to the better understanding of the determinants of proactive behaviourof enterprises within the context of rising uncertainty.