Jonathan Breiter
Local business professors Jamy Schaap and Jonathan Breiter have started a talk show on KKOH 780AM radio that airs every Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon called Business Academics. The program is modeled after the strategic, management and marketing solutions the pair offer to businesses of all sizes.
With more than 50 years of combined experience in the corporate business/marketing world, Schaap and Breiter have worked at companies such as Salomon, Hasbro and General Mills. Each show may include subject matter they teach in the classroom such as diversification, value proposition, and/or recognizing a firm’s most important assets. Everything the pair talks about is based around the three tenets of strategy, management and marketing.
Before launching the show this spring, Schaap (who is also a Vietnam veteran and former Marine Corps corporal) says he had been a guest on other shows such as Bosma on Business as well as on the Jon Sanchez show.
“Both of them have also been guests in our classrooms,” Schaap said. “We think it’s valuable to create a general business show with an academic flair to it.”
Breiter and Schaap have hosted at least nine Business Academics shows so far and have received positive feedback on their content.
“We have received emails and comments from people who say they like the program and feel they’ve been learning something new about various aspects of business,” Schaap says.
While they are vacillating around the concept of doing case studies, the Business Academics consulting firm believes it is worthwhile to start telling their own stories first.
“Both Jon and I have 50 years of shared experience working from world-leading companies,” Schaap says.
In one episode, Schaap talked about the importance of business diversification and having a competitive advantage. In his 16-year career with Salomon, Schaap and his team had to learn how to continuously be innovative to keep up in a one-season type of business.
“In the products field, you must continue to be innovative. Salomon was the first to create the automatic step-in binding, the first to create the ski brake, and the first to create the rear-entry ski boot, as well as create the cross-country automatic step-in binding,” he said.
Jamy Schaap“Charmin makes a wavy cut toilet paper, making it easier to tear it. All new cars have automatic steering and GPS systems,” Schaap says.
In one of the Business Academics episodes, Breiter talked about when Hasbro made its first $50 million and then the boss immediately asked what comes after.
 “Always be looking toward what’s next and be innovative because what you have is never enough,” Breiter said, mentioning Yoplait comes out with a new product every year.
“Become a better mousetrap for the consumer,” Schaap adds.
In one of those episodes, Schaap said something about CEOs putting shareholders first, and we got into a conversation about employee unionization.
“It’s always a challenge on what to pay employees. And that type of situation (referring to the Park City ski patroller strike of December 2024) can go anywhere. It never happened to me at Salomon because it took a much different approach to how it paid employees. They paid a 10 percent higher wage in the industry for that particular job.
“The perks at Salomon created a life expectancy rate of over 10 years; if they left and did a similar job then they would get paid less. And benefits can come in many different shapes and forms. If you can truly satisfy the wants and needs of employees, then they are going to be more productive and lead to profits. Happy employees make happy customers.”
Having worked at a family-owned ski resort, I saw firsthand how treating employees well fostered a unique culture that attracted more loyal season passholders.
Dr. Jamy’s one piece of solid business advice?
“We want to educate our listeners and get businesses out there to try something a little different. We know what works and doesn’t,” Schaap says.
“Ninety-five percent of all businesses in the U.S. are small mom and pop businesses. We wanted to do this radio show to help businesses be more profitable tomorrow than they are today. We’re disseminating information to make businesses great again.”
Business Academics will go live in October and will then be able to take calls from listeners.