Can business model sell?

[Pekka]

I wonder if there's a market for business model alone, I bet there is. What I mean is not consulting services to businesses but rather establishing a company that has some weird values like environment etc, stuff that the 'enlightened' ones scream about.

You know, our business would be driven by the policies we make. Fair policies for workers, good for environment, supporting and sponsoring all kinds of events that do this also.

It might be a good business, I wonder how much money you could make by getting a good reputation in all these circles. Because it will create a phenomenon where it's 'cool' to support the company. Buy the products. It makes you cool. THe more you buy, the more you save the world. That could even be the motto. Consume to save the world.

If it would make money enough to get up from the gutter, you could even do your own research. Like Japanese car companies make robots, concept cars etc, you could be developing technologies helping people and environment and giving it away free.

Because, it isn't free. If you get support, you'll be getting that money in other ways.

What you'd do is make advertise yourself through your business model, make it transparent. Also you could promote company takeovers, as in if you are big enough, you can take out companies of your field and turn their policies to match yours, so there's some synergy benefits as well.

Of course it all depends on the advertising and marketing. IF you can do that superbly, I don't see why you couldn't make profit from the business model alone. Who even cares what they really sell.

[Pekka]

I bet there's tons of tax breaks to be made, maybe even the very products you sell would be partly tax deductable.

You would get all these hotshot Hollywood people to do marketing for you at low cost because they want to appear cool and enlightened as well. It would be easy to attack your rivals, the only thing you have to worry about is the attacks they make to you, as in trying to undermine your products or processes claiming they are the opposite.

But the key is to do it for real, not just claim you do these things, you need to be doing them because it would be your core and your market value.

You might be eligble for all kinds of government help, you could organize the organizations to help you to get that help and when it gets enough support, all kinds of people want to do business with you to appear cool as well.

[Pekka]

We should respect the consumer. Instead of spending much money on telling what they need or want, this could be advertised partly by free when organizations and famous people say yeah those guys are cool, and I didn't even get paid to say it.

It's not the advertising pressure that would get to you, but peer pressure, which is better I think.

[Solly]

I know of a firm in Scotland that set itself up to be an energy supplier, with awesome systems, regulatory licences, etc. It didn't supply anyone at all, yet due to its set-up was sold for several £m.

[Pekka]

Right, right. I mean, the product itself becomes less important. Of course you want to manufacture and sell good products, but it isn't the case. The biggest challenge is to have that advertising and marketing capability to really create yourself an image that makes you important enough to be recognized. You can always have your own little corner shop no one cares about.

So you need to be at certain level, enough to be recognized. However, it should be noted that the level of being enough is directly the level of your marketing force. IF you can have that, really a good group of people with innovative ideas, good strategies and give them enough resources, it should pick up and the money will be there.

You could get all those people who are boycotting someone to buy from you, in addition you could get all the regular customers as well that everyone else is getting. And you can get really good press for virtually free, so you need good key people who are good at speaking.

You should drive for more than just say.. environmentally good business. That's what some businesses are doing, or at least they are complying to some of the demands that are not even set laws. Because even though it might cost a bit, it's also good PR, it's good business in itself.

What better things you could have, I mean when people buy prodcuts they feel certain things attached to that company or the product, but if that feeling is 'this is a good thing I'm doing and if I choose this product over the other manufacturers, I'm making a positive difference and I'm cool'.. well that's one of the best things you can have.

[-Jrabbit]

Coolness can be leveraged, but it cannot be created at will. It's a tricky business.

One guaranteed way to fail:

get all these hotshot Hollywood people to do marketing for you

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by Park Avenue
I know of a firm in Scotland that set itself up to be an energy supplier, with awesome systems, regulatory licences, etc. It didn't supply anyone at all, yet due to its set-up was sold for several £m.

Another good example would be almost the entire Dot-Com boom of the 90's. All flash, plenty of capital and investment, no substance or future.

[-Jrabbit]

What about all the millions Markos has made on the backs of Poly posters???

[Pekka]

drosedars, how is that example relevant at all?

[DRoseDARs]

What, are you daft? PA gave an example of a company that didn't sell anything, and yet people bought into it. How is the vaporware of the 90's not relevant?

[Pekka]

"yet due to its set-up was sold for several £m."

Yeah I read what he said. Would you say it was a success or failure in terms of what businesses do?

I still don't see how the dot com thing applies here. I'm talkign about the business model only. Advertising throgh your processes and action. Of course it has to have products. I'm saying it ADDS VALUE to the product. The product then does not become as important as it was before to this business. In fact in can't, because you couldn't stomp the workers to get the profit and lower the price. Then, you're putting workers before the product itself. And this would be all in the context of advertising yourself having good values and following them all and making a point.

The dot com thing has nothing to do with this.

[-Jrabbit]

Have you changed from data security to business studies, Pekka? You sound just like a newly minted MBA clone.

When people think of "value added" marketing, they generally expect to get something they want or need in exchange for the premium price they are paying. This might be a guarantee, access to live tech support, promise of future upgrades, discounts on partner products, etc. (Yes, you can offer "coolness" as added value, but to call yourself cool is inherently uncool.)

If your pitch is "buy ours, you get value-added coolness by association," your chances of success are pretty tiny IMHO. In fact, building that association DOES depend on the product. The product MUST embody the other positive qualities (the "business model") before people will pay a sustainably profitable price for it.

The easiest example is the iPod, a product that quietly EARNED a reputation for coolness, and built upon that to create a market far beyond its original logical limits. Today, people no longer want "the best digital music player for my needs and budget." They want an iPod, and the value-added coolness.

In consumer electronics, it used to be Sony. People paid a premium price for the reassurance that they had the best TV/CD player/whatever. There was a cool factor. But Sony's position was eroded over time by cheaper competition of equal quality. Now Sony is just... overpriced.

My point is, the product DOES matter. It must be in alignment with the rest of the business model.

[Pekka]

No, I'm in security, embedded deep!

I don't actually have any qualification for business, but I intend to set up my on business when the time is right. Then again, we're in a field that is totally different. We produce services, not products.

And yes of course the product matters, but in thsi thread, it's more about the business model and can that project value and profit in itself.

And as far as I understand the concept of added value, that usually comes with the product for example with the service. That is, we can give you something extra with our service if you buy the product and that is the added value. Or maybe you can have more control of your product, that can also be an added value.

[-Jrabbit]

If you have something like that -- let's call it the PekkaBiz Method -- you should just franchise it and watch the money roll in.

[Pekka]

So for example if you would make policies and follow them and then lose some productivity, your product will cost more, then youh ave to be careful what you are selling. It can't be much more expensive, it should be in the same price range with your competitors. So then you can swing in with your 'policies' that can help in consumers deciding in favor of your product.

The added value might be something the customer never gets, as in, you know how we function. So we are promoting this way of busienss for everyone else as well, spreading our way of thinking and values. I don't know if that fits in the concept of added value but maybe it can.