Businesses Told Keep Alert for Changes, Future’s Bright for Those Who Grasp It

BEESLEY’S POINT – Change in business was the topic of Dr. Janet Wagner’s address to Cape May County Chamber of Commerce Jan. 21 at Tuckahoe Inn.
Wagner of Stockton University School of Business noted that all businesses are dealing with the amount and pace of change. A quote by Charles Darwin began her brief discourse, “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
A trio of themes she cited included disruption by technology, generational change and the power of analytics.
Recalling her grandfather, a pioneer when radio was the newest media, Wagner said he studied radio waves. At the time, transmitters were placed atop tall buildings, she said. After study around the country on how radio waves moved, he learned they carried better on marshy-type ground and sand.
For that reason, many transmitter sites are placed on those types of soil, Wagner said. She then asked how many in the room listened to radio in the past week, whether at home, in an office or in their cars. Many raised their hands.
“The key is to recognize the underlying functions and the underlying value that you are providing and are still going to provide,” she said. “Learn how to move within the change rather than just be resistant.”
The second issue was generational change, Wagner said. “You may be seeing that in your employees and you may very well be seeing that in your market.”
She cited Cape May, where her parents would “pack us up in the car and take us to the beach house” and the family would stay a week or two. “We did that with our children, but we stayed a week,” she said. “If my children stay somewhere two or three days you’re lucky.” While that may change in the future, she offered, the future seems to indicate shorter vacation stays.
The electronic age also plays a part in changing times, she noted. An online review of one place Wagner cited was that it did not have a flat-screen television, which the author deemed a deficiency even with an oceanfront view. It was not in this area, she said.
“We are doing our best to make sure the new students coming to you have an understanding they need a good work ethic. They need to behave professionally, and maybe cover up some of those tattoos, that might be a good thing,” Wagner said.
“We are all dealing with issues, how do we deal with a new set of employees?” she added.
“We are hearing a lot about companies wanting to harness the power of analytics,” Wagner said.
Of the amount of data available to business operators, Wagner said, “We are drowning in it. You have electronic billing systems. You have electronic operations systems. ShopRite can tell you what time of the day they sold every jar, every bottle of cranberry juice. So they can tell you if cranberry juice is more commonly purchased in the morning or the afternoon or the evening. It’s not clear to me why anybody would want to know that but you can find that stuff out.”
Wagner then cited a seminar she attended that focused on healthcare information. A pharmaceutical representative wanted to know if people were taking blood pressure medication. They did an analysis of healthcare information on prescriptions for blood pressure medication. “How many of them were there? Eight million,” Wagner said.
Instead of having to survey individuals, “All they have to do is download their 8 million prescriptions and analyze them, and they can get some interesting information from them.”
“What is at your fingertips even in plain vanilla in Excel is actually amazing,” she added.
Wagner distributed sheets to all attendees and asked them to identify three topics that were most important to their businesses. All were anonymous, and, she said, would remain under “double lock and key.”