|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
Review of April 6, 2002 Show Hosted By Ron Morris  Last week's guest on The American Entrepreneur was former
Earnst and Young / Inc. "Entrepreneur of the Year" winner Dr. Alfred Kuehn.
Dr. Kuehn is the founder and CEO of Management Science Associates (MSA), a
company that employs scientific method to analyze the "cause and effect" of
various stimuli when applied to media advertising. "I got into the analysis
of cause and effect working as a chemical engineer." Dr. Kuehn explained, "I
took the types of models that I looked at for chemical engineering, for
example, oil going through a pipe, and the resultant impact of chemicals,
temperature, and so forth. I then looked at consumers as 'oil' going through
a 'pipeline of time' while being impacted by advertising, promotion and
price."
Dr. Kuehn's concept was so innovative that colleague Herb Simon (himself a Nobel Prize winner) told him that this would be a great thesis for a doctoral degree. Ironically then, the research for this doctoral degree, along with a squabble with the IRS, became the birth of MSA. "In 1963 the IRS investigated my payment of 47 students for doing various research, and said that only a company could do this. But I was not a company; I actually paid these students out of my own checkbook, just as I would any other expense. But when the IRS insisted I needed to have a business structure and that I pay withholding taxes and all other taxes, I remedied this problem by starting the company." The company has grown leaps and bounds since its beginning in 1963. In MSA's 40 years of operation, only three years have been unprofitable, the latest being in 1987, "fifteen years ago." Proudly Dr. Kuehn attributes this success to the innovativeness of his 900 employees. And added, "It is amazing how good employees can be if you allow them to innovate." Dr. Kuehn also discussed the difficult task of recruiting great employees. Dr. Kuehn discussed how one simply couldn't "plug in" one employee in for another. Instead, one needs to utilize the employee's own unique skills and experiences. So, and with exceptional talent you often times create a position that best suits the applicant. Dr. Kuehn summarized by saying, "Chuck Noll use to say, hire the best athlete available, and in a sense that is what I try to do." The American Entrepreneur can heard each week on Pittsburgh's talk radio, AM 1360 WPTT - The point, or live via the website, each Saturday morning from 8:00 - 10:00 A.M. Copyright (c) 2001 HAMPSHIRE, CORP. d.b.a.
American Entrepreneur. All other rights reserved.
|
||||||||
 |
|
