Business professor talks competition in ski manufacturing on Academic Minute

Kevin Caskey, professor in the School of Business, became the ninth SUNY New Paltz faculty member to be featured on the nationally-syndicated radio program “The Academic Minute” on Feb. 15.

Caskey, who in his time outside the classroom works as a ski patroller at a state-owned resort, focused his talk on trends in the ski manufacturing industry: namely, how small U.S.-based companies are attempting to gain on the large foreign makers who dominate the market by providing their customers with specialization and customization.

“To enter an established market one must offer something different, or do something differently,” Caskey said in the broadcast. “Specialization offers something different while customization is doing skis differently. These smaller firms specialize more often than customize, and focus on niches that may not interest the larger producers. Their designs can be more radical and materials less traditional.”

[To listen to Caskey’s “Academic Minute” in its entirety, please follow this link.]

Kevin Caskey holds a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from the University of Washington. His teaching focuses in manufacturing operations, statistics and project management. As the longtime instructor of the Entrepreneurship and Business Planning course, he has played an instrumental role in establishing and expanding the School of Business’s annual Business Plan Contest. Caskey was recognized with a SUNY New Paltz School of Business Distinguished Teaching Award in 2011.

About “The Academic Minute”
“The Academic Minute” is an educationally focused radio segment produced by WAMC in Albany, N.Y., a National Public Radio member station. The show features an array of faculty from colleges and universities across the country discussing the unique, high-impact aspects of their research. The program airs every weekday and is run multiple times during the day on about 50 different member stations across the National Public Radio spectrum. For more information, visit http://academicminute.org/.