Business copycats [Archives:2002/33/Business & Economy]
The Road Ahead
BY RAIDAN A. AL-SAQQAF
[email protected]
To start a new business there should be an identified business opportunity in the form of a need to be satisfied. In market jargons this need is called demand, and the service or product you provide to satisfy this need is called supply. There is a simple established equation when it comes to business; to make a profit, the demand must be more than supply.
However, it is not just a matter of quantity, because if it were so, to start with, there will be no innovation in businesses, as a successful business would attract fortune seekers who will simply copy the successful business opportunity. And secondly, there will be overloading of the same supply in the market, which will cause stagnation and eventually loss. It is obvious though, that the higher the supply is the less price consumers have to pay for the service or the product and vice versa. For example, when Internet Cafés first started in Yemen, the browsing rate was 9 YR per minute, but after the big growth in the number of Internet cafés, the rate slashed down to 2 YR per minute.
The idea here is that a business opportunity cannot simply be copied because demand is not constant. The problem with adopting a me-too strategy in business is that copying does not give enough attention to the essence of the market which is the demand and supply formula. In other words, the objective of the business is to create a market for its product then earn profits out of it, not do whatever others do to make money, it just doesnt work that way, unless you are satisfied with being a copycat.
The main challenge that faces copying a successful business is how to adjust the existing idea to the current or changing circumstances of the market. Sometimes just making simple variations in the supply could create a new business. Sometimes demand can grow through educating the marketeers about their need for the product / service through advertising and publicity. This is the reason that multibillion companies spend millions on market research; to find out what the demand is, and what the market circumstances are before starting a new business and even whilst having a business in the market.
Human beings are never satisfied, and needs keeps on arising; and this makes the development of unlimited business opportunities possible. Its time to innovate instead of copying.
Endnote: A business opportunity suggests itself from a need not another business opportunity. It is to innovate, not copy.
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