Advice from the tech-connected
Boston College's second annual TechDay, which
took place the afternoon of October 29, started with a litany of unhappy
economic news intoned by Dan Nova '83, managing general partner of Highland
Capital Partners, a Massachusetts-based firm that invests in technology
start-ups. Unemployment, he said, was up by 50 percent in the last three
years, real wages were down, the venture capital business "at a
standstill," initial public offerings "basically shut down.
. . . It's a good time," said Nova, who moderated the first of
the day's two panels, "to be in school and not in the workforce,"
a point that may or may not have given comfort to the audience.
TechDay, according to its organizer, associate
professor of information systems John Gallaugher, highlights topics
from business uses of digital technology to ways of assessing the strength
of high technology firms; it is sponsored by the Carroll School of Management
MBA Technology Club and by the Tech Council, a Carroll School alumni
group. This edition drew about 350 people, who filled the Fulton 511
auditorium to near capacity. The audience included some 40 alumni, identifiable,
it seemed, by their dark business dress and their muted, businesslike
demeanor. Also in the audience were numerous MBA students, a less reserved
contingent that tapped away on laptop keyboards and was overwhelmingly
dressed for school rather than the office. Interestingly enough, this
contrast in styles also characterized the day's two panels.
DAN NOVA'S grim, stage-setting litany didn't seem to bother his panelists,
who were chosen precisely because their companies had flourished in
a bad economy. Philip W. Schiller '82, marketing chief at Apple Computers,
cheerfully declared that he doesn't concern himself too much with nitpicking
matters like his stock's price-to-earnings ratio. "What I care
about," he said, "is how much fun I have when I get up in
the morning, and whether my products make people happy." Recently,
Schiller, a sandy-haired man in faded jeans, has been having fun unveiling,
among other products, Apple's iPod digital music player, of which he
declared sanguinely, "It's become a brand, as Kleenex is to tissues."
Apple's strategy for dark times, Schiller said, is to "reinvent
the personal computer around the digital lifestyle, what we call 'the
iLife.'"
Also preaching fun, along with "excitement,"
as a key to profitability was panelist Carl Rosendorf, CEO of Smart
Bargains, which sells consumer goods like bedsheets and luggage on-line.
Describing his marketing strategy, he said, "Urgency is the key."
The Smart Bargains Web site posts a countdown of the remaining units
of each item being sold because, in Rosendorf's words, "As
you get closer to zero, people are that much more likely to buy."
The Starbucks Coffee chain was represented by
Kathleen Richardson, director of marketing for the northeast zone, who
talked up the company's new Duetto Card, which combines a prepay
feature with a Visa card that gives free coffee dividends. Quoted Richardson,
"You may never have to pay for a latte again."
It was around this point in the proceedings that
Nova tried to steer the panel back to the question: How do you make
money in a terrible economy?
"In the end," Apple's Schiller
answered, "if you build a good business, the valuation will come.
. . . If Sony's laying off 20,000, we see it as an opportunity
to pick up products that they dropped and hire some good people."
Rosendorf, of Smart Bargains, also talked up the business opportunities
in a bad economy, saying, "That's when retailers cancel
orders from suppliers and we can get some of our best bargains."
Asked for any advice they had to offer future
MBAs, the panel was silent for several beats. Then Schiller advised
prospective business executives to look for a "product you're
crazy about" and seek employment at the company that makes it.
COMPARED to Nova's panelists, none of whom had a business suit on, let
alone a necktie, the members of the afternoon's second panel—five
chief information officers, or CIOs, from large, established companies—were
grayer and more traditionally dressed; and it was hard to imagine being
crazy about several of their products, things like life insurance and
commercial air conditioners, however crucial.
In a nuts and bolts discussion, Peter Burrows
of Reebok International predicted that open-source operating systems
"are going to do what the Justice Department didn't do:
drive people away from Microsoft as [Microsoft] continues raising prices."
On outsourcing of information technology (IT) jobs to places like China
and India, a recent sore point for out-of-work IT professionals, Bill
Oates '78 of the Starwood Hotels chain laid out the market realities,
saying outsourcing "is huge for all companies now. If your competitors
are doing it, they may be able to get more bang for their technology
than you."
As for advice to future MBAs? Terry Conner of
Liberty Mutual recommended cultivating the skill of "dealing with
change—because that's the only constant we have in business."
David Reich
David Reich is a freelance writer based in the Boston area.
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