An entrepreneur’s critical thinking and planning skills dictate success or failure
In
a tough economy, there are more advantages to start or maintain a small
business: low cost of capital to start a company, the ability to hire
great talent cheap, low loan rates if you have good credit, etc.
However, what sets apart winners from losers in a recession depends
on the level of their flexibility and critical thinking skills. Do they
have the ability to break into a new market, and do they have a
recession contingency plan?
A deep recession like the one we
are in will cause major changes in people’s buying patterns and in
business operations. What worked before may not work in the future.
Expected changes in financing, for example, are likely to affect buying
habits and business expansion. Business people must have contingency
plans to protect them from the downside of the recession and to take
advantage of the inevitable upside that is likely to occur sometime
next year.
That’s why I think an MBA is a vital tool for any
entrepreneur or small business owner. It may be true that you can’t
really teach someone how to be an entrepreneur, but you can help to
augment their critical thinking skills so that they can be proactive –
and not reactive – to a financial crisis.