• Research Associate Speaks at Conference in China
• Center Managing Director Speaks at Conference in Portland
• New Assistant Program Manager Is Up to the Challenge

• Register for the FREE newsletter
• Submit ideas for future articles
• Become a partner with the eBusiness Center

• Newsletter Archives

• Contact the editor of the eBusiness Center Newsletter:

Rachel Finley
574 TNRB
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 422-3598
prspecialist@byu.edu

Center Managing Director Speaks at Conference in Portland

Once every year, the Marriott School’s dean’s office sends a speaker to each BYU Management Society chapter. This year, John Richards, managing director of the Rollins Center for eBusiness, was selected by the Portland, Oregon Chapter to speak on the future of e-business and entrepreneurship.

“My presentation was actually a combination of entrepreneurship and e-business,” Richards says. “In fact, I shared much about Web 2.0 and the opportunities in the marketplace for innovators, especially in e-business.”

During the presentation, Richards listed the business programs offered at BYU, shared insights about student accomplishments and the Business Plan Competition, and spoke briefly about the $42 million Tanner Building expansion project, which houses the Marriott School.

He also spoke on the vision of the Management Society, “growing moral and ethical leadership around the world.” To accomplish this and keep up to speed with the technological growth of America, he says new models for business need to be created and that an online presence is crucial for success.

He describes today as a Web 2.0 era where the Internet now has open communication and there is a rise in its economic value.

“Children, youth, and young adults lead the way with new web services such as the social networks MySpace and Facebook, the video sharing service YouTube, and personal blogs,” Richards says. “It won’t be long before they’re in the workforce, bringing their networks with them.”

To keep up with the youth of today in the Web 2.0 era, Richards says that it is important to be involved with the social interaction of the Internet. He says people should read and write blogs, elicit customer input, create a Facebook page, open a Flickr account, write a Wikipedia entry, and program a web mashup at Zing.com.

Richards says, “The only way to understand this stuff is to use it, and it’s easy.”