One of the more interesting aspects of Springfield I’ve come to admire in the six years I have been here is the level of entrepreneurial activity. It’s both a strength and a weakness however. I’ve experienced it directly in the film making and soccer industry in this region as individuals or groups that might have achieved more together instead end up competing. Ultimately the competition, and the market, deliver the right solution however.
That is what has taken place in St Louis with InBev’s purchase of Anheuser-Busch. I worked at McDonnell-Douglass and Emerson Electric, and looked closely at a position with A-B coming out of the MBA program at Washington University. I also spent a decade selling technology solutions to the top firms in St Louis. Working with hundreds of firms, I’ve seen a wide range of business cultures and models. St Louis went through one major shift with Boeing’s purchase of McD based upon the changing market conditions in place at that time and now they will experience it again.
This article, offering background on InBev’s Chief Executive Carlos Brito, offers insight on what brought Anheuser-Busch to this point:
Brito eschews the kind of corporate perks that have become typical today. He and other executive board members fly business class only on flights over 6 hours; otherwise they go coach. There are no company cars, free beer or reserved parking spots.
“Whoever gets there first gets the shade,” he said.
Contrast that with Anheuser-Busch, which maintains a fleet of corporate jets, a barber shop and company cars for executives. Every employee gets two free cases of beer a month and free admission to A-B’s theme parks.
It’s the same market impact that is happening to the auto industry now. Rather than Congress mandating mileage standards, the global economy will direct GM and Ford to ‘do the right thing’.
Ultimately I am an optimist. I’m old enough to have been through the gas crisis of the 70′s, when I first started driving, being laid off by Emerson Electric in the recession in ’85, and the tech meltdown in 2002. You plan, you prepare, and you enjoy the simple things. Like Bill McClellan’s take on the situation
Here is my new daydream: I am in Rio de Janeiro, sitting at an open-air cafe near the beach at Ipanema, smoking a Cuban cigar, wearing a Panama hat and drinking a Budweiser, that great Brazilian lager. I am watching the young women walk past to play volleyball on the beach. Because South American women are attracted to older men, several of the young women stop to flirt with me.
“Where are you from?” one asks me. “Rio de Luis,” I reply.
That is as much of the daydream as I care to reveal, but let me just say that the young women are captivated by the notion that there is a Brazilian city in the heart of the United States.
