Howard Levitt, the former CEO of Tourneau, returned to his alma mater and delivered the keynote address at the most recent Queens College Business Forum.
Levitt told the story about how he arrived at Tourneau when the business was in disarray – lack of procedures and inventory control topping the list – and he helped transform it into one of the world’s largest watch retailers.
“When I started with Tourneau we couldn’t afford one mistake, we couldn’t afford half a mistake, and we were nearly bankrupt so everything we did had to work,” Levitt said on Thursday, March 18. “In reality that’s the way you should run your business. You don’t do things hoping they’re going to work, in your heart you have to know that they’re going to work.”
Levitt talked about how Tourneau needed to create a business plan and then overhaul the entire culture of the existing business before it would be able to become prosperous. After retraining its staff and testing out its new business model, business improved and profits began to skyrocket.
In 1995, after the company began to show consistent, increased profits, it decided to open its flagship store on 57th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan.
“It repositioned Tourneau in the eyes of consumers as the world’s most preeminent watch store,” Levitt said.
Levitt talked about many of the business practices that he adopted at Tourneau, but he also offered advice that is applicable to all businesses.
“We developed our business model; we honed it and got it right before we started expanding,” Levitt said. “We didn’t build on a shaky foundation. We built on a solid business model that was scalable and workable and then we tested it carefully.”
The Queens College Business forum is sponsored by the Queens Borough President’s Office, Queens Chamber of Commerce, Queens Courier, Farrell Fritz, P.C., PricewaterhouseCoopers and TD Bank. This year’s theme is entrepreneurship.
During this forum Queens College President Dr. James Muyskens spoke about how the college can work with the business community.
“Queens College can play a very valuable roll in getting information out in a timely way to the community about special business meetings, information on funding sources, on filing for RFPs (Requests for Proposals), on technology training, opportunities for student internships and collaboration with faculty on research,” Muyskens said.
