Destruction of World Trade Center May Change Way Companies Do Business
As the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed nearly a month ago, so too did the way many companies traditionally did business - operating from large high rises that were as much icons of power and wealth as they were logistical space for their employees.
Two business professors now forecast that many businesses will be less interested in having showy venues, and more concerned with safety - taking a more functional, low-key approach that may include encouraging more employees to work from home.
"I think it's (safety) a fact that they're (business executives) considering now," says Rock-Antoine Mehanna, assistant professor of business administration at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. "Are they going to want to be more modest and more secure - going away from the big glass windows and high towers?"
Also a trade consultant for The World Bank for Middle East economic issues, Mehanna actually did terrorism research last year in the Middle East region.
"People are scared and fear is a powerful factor and emotion in all of this. I'd venture to say we'll see many kinds of office 'adjustments,' with more time at home or in the home office seems to be a good possibility - particularly in the short term," says Dr. William Ward, the Warehime Professor of Business Administration at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa.
Ward is a past president of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, also previously working for both the Nixon and Ford presidential administrations. He knows that personal security is a very high priority item these days in light of the World Trade Center/Pentagon terrorist attacks, and believes that has execs thinking long and hard about their headquarters.
"The first thought that comes to mind is the effect terrorism will have on status and accouterments of offices - like these fancy digs (of the offices at the World Trade Center and the recently remodeled part of the Pentagon)," says Ward.
Ultimately, Mehanna agrees with Ward that many business owners may want their employees closer to home, if not working at home.
"I think businesses will become more decentralized - trying to do things more like Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan. That include more home-based work, with all the new technologies and communications available to workers today," says Mehanna.
"But I think businesses will also become more decentralized in terms of other things, besides their physical location. At the World Trade Center, many companies lost a big framework of their information - the collection of their data from their clients. This reliance on information technology proved that if a certain physical condition happens, it might wipe out everything (the information a business has collected). While the back-up was there, it wasn't sufficient and had not planned for something so terrible to happen. I think that (storing of information) will also become more decentralized now. I think they (business owners) would consider decentralizing the physical location of their businesses - not housing it in a big headquarter with everything (all of the office hardware, software, and computer records) there."
Mehanna also theorizes that the destruction of the World Trade Center may drive premiums up on insuring the old standard business high-rises with expansive windows all around.
"They (businesses) will probably have to be concerned with the insurance costs of such buildings. The insurance companies may want wartime considerations in the insurance contracts. When you pay premiums to include factors such as war, it drives the costs (of insuring those buildings) higher."
While working from home may become more popular in the wake of the September 11 disasters, Ward believes awareness of one's surroundings and environment is the best rule of thumb in this new heightened business safety and security environment.
"If this can be obtained at reasonable cost at home, so be it. The efficiency, low-cost, and attractiveness of modern communications technologies makes home offices more appealing and possibly more effective," he says. "All of this (a shift to home offices) must be viewed as tradeoffs - losing out on the value of team play and face to face relationships."
Ward can be reached in his office by calling 570-372-4463, or at home at 570-374-8314, or by emailing him at [email protected]. Mehanna may be reached by calling his office at 319-352-8315, or his home at 319-352-1128, while his email accounts are either [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected].
Feel free to also call us at 814-867-1963, or email me at [email protected]. We assist Susquehanna and Wartburg with their public affairs work.
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