Modern Mind-Set Pays In Out-of-Date Market

With a business degree and family contacts, Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, has built a fast-growing e-business. (Molly Moore - Molly Moore -- The Washington Post)

"It's not too hard -- I was not rich. I didn't have that many connections. I think it's a great way of life and a great adventure."

But Kosciusko-Morizet had the educational jump-start that set him apart from hundreds of thousands of other French students. He graduated from Ecole Hautes Etudes de Commerce, the most elite business school in a country where professional achievement frequently is determined by the status of the diploma.

And he is not without connections. His father, a career government administrator, is now mayor of his home town, and his great-grandfather was ambassador to the United States in the 1970s.

After graduating, Kosciusko-Morizet worked for a year at Capital One Bank in Richmond, honing skills he then took home to France. Just as the Internet bubble was bursting, he and four friends -- despite warnings that their timing was abysmal -- started an online sales company in France.

In the first two years, the number of transactions the company handled doubled every 2 1/2 months, and the business has continued to expand. Kosciusko-Morizet said PriceMinister.com now handles 20,000 transactions a day -- small by eBay standards, but significant by French ones. He estimates that in the past six years, it has helped 10,000 people launch new or second careers in sales. In November, he moved the company into a open-air warehouse once used to make huge balloons.

But fighting the French mind-set and labor laws designed to protect workers, rather than enhance commerce and competition, has been frustrating. To fire an employee "is expensive and it takes time," he said. "You hire 115 people and fire one, and you're seen as a bad guy. You're firing a guy who has a right to work."

Although Kosciusko-Morizet supports the government's new law, he doesn't think it could help his company: "You don't need two years to know whether an employee is good."

And he is not without sympathy for those like his friend, Nicolas. "It's important to have safety nets and social protections," he said. "You don't want to stop helping people who have difficulties, but you don't want to hand them too much. If you do, they will have less motive to find a job."

Kosciusko-Morizet said he tries to convince new graduates that running a business doesn't mean they have to give up the lifestyle so cherished by the French. "I don't think work is the most important thing in my life," he said. "I believe in family. I love music. I sing. One of my dreams is to become a singer."

Researcher Corinne Gavard contributed to this report.