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  • Tri-C President Discusses Strategies for Long-Term Business Survival

Tri-C President Discusses Strategies for Long-Term Business Survival

Michael A. Baston highlights the importance of adapting in Smart Business Magazine

Image of Tri-C President Michael A. BastonBusinesses must listen, adapt and evolve to achieve growth and success. The same is true in higher education, where recently, a number of Northeast Ohio institutions have faced enrollment declines and resulting economic hardships, with two closing their doors.

In his latest column for Smart Business Magazine, Michael A. Baston, J.D., Ed.D., the president of Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®), uses Blockbuster Video as a cautionary tale for what could happen in higher education.

Once the biggest video rental chain on the planet, Blockbuster Video was slow to adapt to DVD-by-mail and online streaming, leading to the closure of all but one store.

"It can be easy to identify what went wrong after the fact, but it's much more difficult in the moment," Baston said. "Forecasting the future, and evolving and adapting to capitalize on it, is hard work. But it can be done."

Baston shared three practices for long-term survival in the world of business and higher education: 

  1. Observe trends: Understanding how emerging technologies impact the industry and influence customer behaviors is vital for survival.
  2. Know your data: Data analysis is deeper than sales performance. Baston urges businesses and institutions to make decisions based on data compiled from customer and market feedback.
  3. Choose smart growth: Smart growth is timely growth that is controlled and measured across the entire organization, from new products to new hires.

Baston described how Tri-C observed the changes in how students seek to experience higher education, such as their desire for more flexibility or simplified enrollment and registration processes. The College responded by introducing a new school-based academic model for the 2024-2025 academic year and new program options through the Center for Entrepreneurs at Corporate College® and Tri-C's first bachelor's degree program this fall — a Bachelor of Applied Science in Integrated Digital Manufacturing Technology.

"But we are not done," Baston said. "Adapting to serve our students — and all of Northeast Ohio — is an ongoing task because the world around us keeps changing. And we realize, as every business and organization must, that if you don't listen, adapt and evolve, you will just as surely wither away and be banished to the history books."

Read the entire column at sbonline.com.

Baston is a regular contributing author for Smart Business Magazine. Read his previous columns:

  • Podcasts are a great way to reach a large audience — if you use them properly
  • Cleveland as Ohio's career capital
  • Evolving your business to stay relevant
  • Cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit
  • Access to training is key to addressing national transportation shortage
  • Economic mobility drives more vibrant communities and economies
  • Defining the ‘now' normal

August 06, 2024

MEDIA CONTACT: Anthony Moujaes, 216-987-3068 or anthony.moujaes@tri-c.edu

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Cleveland, Ohio 44115

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