Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) reported its third quarter figures this morning, and while the company managed to post better than expected earnings, its revenues were lower than analysts had expected.

Going into this morning's earnings report analysts had estimated J&J would earn $1.13 per share in the third quarter. The company was able to put up better than expected earnings results, saying it earned $1.20 per share in the quarter. But revenues disappointed. Analysts had forecast the company's revenues would be $15.22 billion in the quarter, but actual revenues were below estimates at $15.08 billion.

Shares of Accenture (NYSE: ACN) are trading in the red in after hours trading today following the company's fiscal fourth quarter earnings release and a weaker than expected first quarter forecast.

For the quarter, the company reported that it had earnings of 39 cents per share. Excluding a previously disclosed restructuring charge, earnings were in line with analyst estimates for 63 cents per share for the quarter.

Masco Corp. (NYSE: MAS), which manufactures and installs building materials, announced its fourth quarter numbers Wednesday afternoon, falling short of analyst estimates.

Analysts had expected to see the company show a loss for its fourth quarter of 5 cents, but a tough sales environment pushed the company's loss much wider than expected, with a reported 18-cent loss per share.

For many small business owners, the main focus is on survival -- not growing the business. And, with the freezing of the credit markets and the slowing economy, the sentiment is certainly warranted. Hey, even companies like Google, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) are cutting back.

So, what are some key survival skills? Let's take a look:

Get Paid: It's never fun to call customers who are behind on their invoices and ask for them to pay up. But it's a necessary skill if you want to survive the recession.

Thus, you need to be proactive (for more help on this, you can check out a recent column I've done on this topic).

Shares of agricultural producer Monsanto (NYSE: MON) are trading in the red today, despite posting better than expected earnings per share for its fiscal third quarter. The main reason why the stock is trading lower is that it was unable to match the revenues that Wall Street was hoping to see.

Heading into today's earnings release, analysts had been hoping to see Monsanto show earnings of $1.34 per share, and the company was able to come in above this, with a reported $1.45 a share for the quarter. A fairly impressive EPS, and a very respectable 42% jump from the same period last year when it reported earnings of $1.02 a share to its investors.

The company stated that the main reason for the jump in earnings was strong sales for herbicides as well as specialty seeds. One of the company's most recognizable names in the herbicide market is Roundup, which it said had a great quarter.

During the first 10 months of this year, China's auto sales, including cars, buses and trucks, rose by 64% from the previous year to 413,500. According to a report from the Commerce Ministry, sales from exported vehicles jumped 117% year-on-year to $4.8 billion.

Despite increased car sales overseas, China's revenues are falling, hurt by declining car prices. The report showed that exports of passenger car more than tripled, but the weak dollar made their value to rise only 174% to $948 million.

Among other things, "unhealthy competition" is blamed for this discrepancy between the export volume growth and sales. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, value of the foreign autos sold in China increased in the January-September period as passenger cars imports totaled only 99,500 units with a dollar value of $3.4 billion.