February 2010 Archives

Five years ago, a group of us, including C.O.R.E and the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, converged around a vision for an event that would enable businesses of all types to showcase opportunities that they were finding from the drivers of sustainability.  From that first discussion sprang the annual Sustainable Opportunities Summit (SOS). 

At that time (ca. 2005) many of the companies in attendance could legitimately be considered as first movers.  It was a remarkable event - violating almost all of the rules of focus and specialization.  Participating companies came from every sector of the business world.  As one attendee commented, "I admit to being a serial conference attendee, but I was very skeptical about SOS.  What I now realize is that I attend conferences on the same topics with the same speakers and the same attendees.  But this (SOS) was one of the most thought provoking and refreshing experiences that I've had.  It is clear that sustainability is a whole new way to think about how to create and run businesses, and is unquestionably the way of business in the future.  This conference is an incredible forum at which to learn more and to better understand where the trends will lead us."

In 2009 the City of Denver became a partner - recognizing that the success of the summit had created a powerful platform for the city, the university, and the business community at which to showcase the extraordinary advances being made by companies, cities and schools pertaining to sustainability.  Colorado has emerged as one of the most successful regions of sustainable business leadership, cleantech and renewable energy, organic foods and products, and progressive public/private collaborations around business, government, the environment, water and energy. 

Please join us for the 5^th annual Sustainable Opportunities Summit and Cleantech Venture Challenge. This year's Summit will take place next week, from March 2^nd to the 4^th at the Denver Convention Center.  Once again you will hear from and be able to network with remarkable thought leaders . Join us or learn more here.

For the second year in a row we were offered the extraordinary opportunity of having a group of students from our MBA program spend the better part of a day with Warren Buffett in Omaha.  Mr. Buffett regularly sets aside days to meet with graduate students, usually inviting groups from about five schools at a time.  This year our students joined graduate students from IBMEC from Brazil, Texas A&M, Harvard Business School,   University of Southern California, and UCLA.  Last year I accompanied the group.  This year Prof. Chris Leach made the trip; here is his guest blog about his experience.  First year MBA student Matt Reisman will also be contributing his account of the trip in a second installment.
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I love it when it all comes together!  I arrived Thursday night early enough to connect with Matt Reisman on the schedule for the next day.  My initial stress of wondering if everything would click on this quick turn visit to Omaha dissipated.  Looking out of my hotel window into the frigid Nebraska weather, I wondered how much outside walking around we had in store.  
The day started early, and after a buffet breakfast with one of the other early risers, I had the good fortune to be asked to join three of the second years (all former students of mine) in a rental car parked in the garage.  Accepting the offer made luggage storage, staying warm, and that evening's free transfer back to the airport easier.  Who could refuse? 

The day of meetings began.  I thoroughly enjoyed the Nebraska Furniture Mart visit - particularly the disclaimer regarding IKEA as a threat.  I had the good fortune there to meet up with a research colleague chaperoning the team from University of Southern California.  Having known him since my early professor days on the East Coast, it was easy to renew acquaintance and receive a recommendation for  a recent paper of mutual interest.  (Some of my historical research contributions and his are closely related.  He hired one of my PhD students while at the Securities Exchange Commission; after the SEC, he hired her again for a California-based trade facilitation firm.)  From there it was onto headquarters and Mr. Buffet who was already talking to students prior to the arrival of most of the visitors.
 
It is really striking how much Mr. Buffet enjoys the interaction and how he genuinely expresses his concerns and hopes for business students and their impact on future business practice and success.  As usual, his advice was "down to earth," practical, and touched on personal and professional aspects.  From the perspective of a Finance Professor who has spent some time trying to interpret some of Mr. Buffet's remarks, I was happy to hear him urge the students to delve into companies' financials making sure they can see a path to extracting investment returns.  So often, Mr. Buffet's public remarks are interpreted as broadly hostile to financial analysis and modeling; it was great to hear him more clearly advocate a role of traditional fundamental analysis (even if it involves modeling financial statements).  At lunch, it was clear that Mr. Buffet was a most generous host with a welcome seated lunch for everyone and patience during the prolonged photo shoot with literally all of the visitors (the best I can tell). 

After lunch, we were off to visit another jewel in the Berkshire crown - Borsheim's jewelry store.  The management and retail representatives were gracious in overestimating my tastes, wealth and income (or at least pretending to do so) and were friendly and accommodating to our large group.  On the ride to the airport the "free ride" hit a rough patch.  In a previous meeting with some of these same MBA students, we had discussed my class usage of brain teaser interview questions and how the group was looking to add one or two to their class presentation.  Given the background, why not introduce a new brain teaser puzzle they encountered on the airplane ride to Omaha, and see if I could solve it before arriving at the Omaha airport?  The ante was upped with the added wrinkle of having the teaser officially marked as "Intermediate" to increase the pressure.  Fortunately, I didn't spend all those years in sports to crumble under the pressure of a brain teaser airport transfer in Cornhusker territory.  There's no substitute for training in hostile conditions.  But fair is fair, and finance is known for its "no free lunch" and "no free ride" maxims.  So, I went to work ...

Overall, it was a great trip; quick and to the point; fun for all involved.  Thanks to all those who planned and supported.

--Chris Leach, CU Boulder

A decade after the dot-com boom introduced us to the idea of entering our credit card numbers into our Web browsers, the world of purchasing and customer interaction has gone online.  Most of us purchase most of what we buy over an Internet connection.  Some websites do a really excellent job of making it simple, intuitive, friendly and straightforward. They've cracked the code on making ordering fun, and the experience of friendly, flexible sites can be very rewarding.  But when things go wrong the contrast is maddening.

A recent example:

A few years ago I purchased my first portable, automobile purposed GPS unit.  I'd used the technology as a pilot, but really had little interest in it for the purposes of navigating my car.  I realized that my lack of interest applied to installed units, since most of my driving was local. But that changed when the units became small and easily portable, and thus became useful for travel.  I was pleased with my particular Garmin product.

I'd updated the unit online in the past, and recently began receiving alerts that it was once again time to do so.  I linked it to my laptop, logged in, verified my personal account and unit serial number, selected the lifetime map upgrade option and triggered the download. Knowing that my unit was registered and identifiable by serial number, and that the download I'd selected was specific to that unit, it never occurred to me that I would experience what followed.  

After a download lengthy enough for a cup of coffee, I followed the prompts to the next step, which was the upload to my GPS unit.  About 2/3 of the duration, as indicated by the progress bar, the upload was canceled; I was informed that my unit had insufficient memory for the upgrade.  So sorry!  No suggestions, explanations, or alternatives.  And no prompt to enable me to cancel the order.  

I abandoned the convenience of my online transaction and dialed customer service , only to learn that,  yes - I had ordered the software. And that--no - they would not refund the upgrade I couldn't use.  The "free prize inside," as Seth Godin might call it, was a transfer to sales to purchase the required memory card.  I If I'd looked closely at the system requirements page beforehand (the representative actually used the words "fine print"), I would have foreseen and avoided the problem.   Conclusion - I have been happy with my use of the Garmin product.  It's almost 3 years old, however, and, given the improvements that have been made with newer units and displays, I will be ready for an upgrade soon.  In the meantime I have no desire to spend much on an older unit.

Of course I'm picking on Garmin as an example that entrepreneurs today have to decide carefully which mechanism they would rather support and repair: the widget or the relationship.    A credit offered in the spirit of keeping my business over the long haul seems smart.   In light of my experience, what would motivate me to  consider their product line?  

Technology is a good thing; common sense is too. BTW - I did succeed in obtaining the refund.  I hate to think of matching the amount of the refund to the value of the time I spent on the phone. If my story is demonstrative of anything, it's that no matter the demographic, the market segment, no matter the medium through which we conduct our business, the experience economy is upon us.  Consumers consider more than the quality of the product and its feature set, especially since the Internet has introduced everyone to the concept that good things can be free.  Capitalizing on the intangibles is the tricky task of today's entrepreneur.  

Perhaps this is why companies such as Zappos.com are so vocal about choosing to focus first on customer service, transparency, and empowering the people who are in front of the customer--either physically or virtually--to do what they think makes good sense.  The next time I'm shopping for a GPS unit, I'll plan on using my good sense, too--and my memory.