I love music. All forms of music. I particularly like country music beacuse of its very instructional nature. There’s quite a long list of country musicians that I admire, Dolly Parton, Faith Hill, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift (not sure if I can exactly call her more recent songs country). However, my favorite of them all will forever be Kenny Rogers. The man has got songs! Of all his songs, my favourite by a distant mile is called the Gambler. Even though I’m not a gambling man, I find the chorus of this song very instructional about all aspects of life. It goes thus:
You got to know when to hold ’em,
Know when to fold ’em,
Know when to walk away,
And know when to run.
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealing’s done.
I found this chorus playing on repeat in my head as I read through a case in MBA class on analysis of business problems. It was about a couple who had come up in the retail business by dint of hardwork, great relationships and a lot of business savvy. At the peak of their powers, they owned a big shopping mall in Festac town which was by far the largest and best patronized mall in the community, enjoying patronage from the community and a very exclusive clientele. They also had a smaller shop some distance away in a trading complex. They owned landed properties, including a house in Festac town and another one in Ikotun.
However, things began to take a turn for the worse when the economic and regulatory structures surrounding their environment, business and customers began to change. This gave rise to the emergence of a lot of competitors which ultimately reduced their customer base. In addition, production and maintenance costs, especially for energy supply, rose to unbearable heights. In the midst of all of these happenings, the business did very little to adapt to changes in its operating environment. These and other factors resulted in the eventual closure of the shopping mall and the relocation of its owners to America in search of the proverbial greener pastures.
A few years later, she returns to Nigeria with her children, now grown up and educated with Masters degrees in business administration. She begins to consider her next line of action. She takes a stroll through her former neighbourhood and relives with nostalgia the glory days of her dear shopping mall. She wants to rebuild the same store, with the same name, using the same business model, despite the presence of well-established malls in the vicinity that currently operate with more effective business models. She tries to enlist her children in the management of the business, but they are not enthusiastic about her plan. She consults her best friend and former supplier who is convinced that this is a bad idea. But she is not one to back down. To hold or to fold. What do you think? #EMBA28
