Back to B School

September 1st, 2009 Posted by Suzy Ogé

back-to-school Today, as the 2009-10 school year kicks off at New Business School Amsterdam, I look forward to meeting my new class with great anticipation. Optimistic by nature, I have high hopes for these students and the enterprises they will create in the coming year.

The current climate is difficult at best for businesses large and small. The biggest challenge is yet to come for those waiting for things to get back to normal. Based on my observations this summer, business as usual will be redefined.

My summer began with a trip to St. Louis, where the first signs of decline inmy hometown were apparent as I stepped off the plane into the ghost town that is now Lambert Airport, once a bustling hub. In St. Louis, the retail bubble is ready to burst, but when it does I am convinced that people will be willing to drive more than 2.5 miles from their home to buy new Egyptian cotton bed sheets when the need arises. No need to build more warehouse stores devoted to Linens n Things on every street corner and strip mall. We did our best (shopping) to stimulate the local economy, but the emptiness of vast malls and stores, leads me to believe that many more closures are imminent.

Speaking of closures, driving past the newly automated, state of the art, and now closed Chrysler plant in Fenton, MO, was an ominous example of modernization and innovation not being enough to sustain a business giant.

I spent the last week of the summer in the center of Brittany, the northwest corner of France, where the plight of small farmers, the polluting effects of agribusiness, the lack of resources to handle the aging population and the impact of widespread regional unemployment were all issues in the forefront.

It is in this gloomy context that today, with great enthusiasm, I challenge these students to look beyond gadgets and gizmos and gimmicks to create enterprises that solve real problems for real people.