Graziadio Business Report Blog

Kasra Ferasat of Palos Verdes, CA., (pictured center) a fully employed MBA program student at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, is the 2009 first place $1000 winner in the student paper competition held by the Graziadio Business Report. For the second year, the publication has invited Graziadio School students to submit articles and compete for the chance to be published and for a cash prize awarded by Dean Linda A. Livingstone (pictured left) and Editor-in-Chief Owen Hall, Jr., a professor of decision sciences (picture right).

Mr. Ferasat’s award-winning composition presents five recession-fighting tactics that must be incorporated into a restaurant’s overall strategy in order to maintain a competitive advantage. The restaurant business is facing its worst time in 40 years with fine-dining restaurants expected to decline by 12 to 15 percent, he writes.

How can restaurateurs create and maintain a profitable business while adding value, increasing sustainability, and providing fresh food for the consumer? Consistent food service, food quality and safety, embracing technology, marketing, and creativity are solutions addressed in the article, available at gbr.pepperdine.edu/094/studentpaperwinner.html, in the Fall 2009 issue of the GBR. Continue reading ‘MBA Paper Recession-Proofs Restaurants’

Can’t see the above video? Click here to watch or you can read the transcript.

In this video interview, Matthew May, supporting faculty at the Graziadio School of Business and Management, and author of the recently released book, In Pursuit of Elegance:Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing, discusses the four principles of elegance: symmetry, seduction, subtraction, and sustainability. Instead of having a to-do list, May says, find elegance in your professionial life by creating a NOT-to-do list.

In Pursuit of Elegance debuted at #1 on 800CEORead.com and #2 in the Creativity & Genius category on Amazon. Professor May was also a long-time consultant to the University of Toyota and the author of the critically acclaimed The Elegant Solution, which won the Shingo Research Prize for Excellence. Continue reading ‘What’s on Your NOT-To-Do List?’

This op-ed first appeared in the Los Angeles Business Journal and is reprinted with their permission.

Dave Smith, PhD

In recent weeks there hasn’t been much data supporting sustained economic stability, much less a recovery. However, it does appear the economy is no longer in a freefall, and we are likely experiencing the depths of this downturn.

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, 6.3 million people have lost their jobs in the United States. Hundreds of thousands more per month are likely to join the ranks of the unemployed for the next several months, and the national jobless rate is expected to reach as high as 10 percent. In California, unemployment hit 11.5 percent in May and will surely peak at more than 12 percent in the coming months. L.A. city’s unemployment rate was even worse at 12.5 percent.

There is little cheer for the currently unemployed, underemployed or those seeking better career prospects. However, looking ahead, there are some breaks forming in the gray cloud hanging over the economy, brightening the outlook for job seekers.

In reviewing a number of sources of information, I believe it is likely that several areas of the economy will lead the way for jobs and economic growth. It also is my opinion that near-term jobs created as an outgrowth of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will not be among them. Here’s how I see it: Continue reading ‘Learning on the Job’

Can’t see the above video? Click this link to watch or you can read the transcript.

In this video interview, Larry Cox, PhD, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and director of the new entrepreneurship program at the Graziadio School of Business and Management, discusses how smart entrepreneurs take advantage of low opportunity and material costs during a recession and why creativity and idea generation are the most important factors to entrepreneurial success.

Continue reading ‘Why Entrepreneurship Thrives During a Recession’

This is a guest post by Sean D. Jasso, PhD, practitioner faculty of economics.

The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.

~ Peter F. Drucker

The big question on the minds of most people is: What is the future of the economy?

The answer is not always found in the news—today’s journalism is often polarized, biased, or not focused on reporting the story, but rather on enhancing a perspective of the story for the benefit of a targeted audience. For example, for several months economists, journalists, and politicians alike have hesitated on how to characterize the state of the economy.

These so-called experts are afraid of saying the r-word, most often associated with recession, or, correctly defined, a contracting economy. Any astute observer can see that the economy is contracting in certain industries while also growing in many others. This ebb and flow is nothing new and since World War II, to use as a benchmark for the modern economy, every decade has experienced the natural phenomenon of growth and decline.

This article’s central objective is to elaborate on the issue of the apparent economic slowdown while providing insight on how history and theory help minimize the confusion. The answer to the big question is not simply recession, but rather, another r-word—resilience. Continue reading ‘The R-Word and the Future of the Economy’

This is a guest post by Tim Berry, GBR Editorial Review Board member and President of Palo Alto Software

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Opportunities are much more important. An opportunity is an idea that’s passed the test of planning. It has potential. You can implement it. An opportunity has some of the following elements:

• Industry and market potential: look at market structure, industry structure, growth rate, margins, costs, etc.
• Economics: capital requirements, fixed costs, cash flow, return on investment, risk.
• Competitive advantage: degree of control, barriers to entry, availability of sufficient resources.
• Management team: people who know the industry, the market, the operations, the logistics, the road to market.

The business planning process is about filtering the opportunities—a precious few, requiring focus, and planning—from the ideas.

Continue reading ‘Ideas vs. Opportunities’