Why Develop Your Own Business Group?

What is a business group anyway?

Also ask the 'unspoken' next question add-on "...and why should I care?"

What is currently taking place politically in Washington, DC should be of extreme importance to the business owner. No longer will it be good for you to simply build a sustaining business on just 'customers' in a mobile society such as ours.

No such thing as customers anymore? Oh, we will have customers. But the customers I am thinking of are the customers who once pledged allegiance to our brand(s) may just drift away faster than the fickle fairy of fate that they were previously infected with these days. The 'standard' customer for many markets is going the way of the Dodo Bird.

Yes, even Seth Godin is touting building your own business group...so, very simply...

You must build a platform...out of your customers...out of your market--anywhere there could emerge win-win commerce--now or in the immediate future. No more must we look at a geo-political boundaries in our more 'formal' business groups--such as a chamber of commerce in such and such a county.

Take for example the Quad State Chamber of Commerce...

This is a major project I am looking to build as a model of a business group that crosses not only county lines, but state lines as well. I will be letting followers in on it at every step--warts and all.
In addition, along the way we will be exploring the 'new platform' I am looking at for businesses--retail to wholesale to medical, health care and more. As to 'kinds and purposes' of groups, I was once part of a vibrant venture capitalist breakfast group that was hosted by a large firm with specific products to sell.

FIRST, let me profer my concept of what I am defining as a 'business group' or platform.

Again, what IS a business group...?

Technically we are talking about a federation. Existing in many aspects, diversified business (or corporate) groups are the ones that consist of legally independent entities or firms for the purpose of potentially generating a profit with new product, service, audience and/or market for both/all parties within the sphere of the other. This operating in multiple markets, are ubiquitous in emerging markets and even in some developed economies.

This platform concept can express itself in a myriad of usable formats from an association, coffee club, product user's group, specific independent research project (beta computer software comes to mind), buyers group and so forth that is made up of independent entities. Blogs, websites and newsletters are key communication outlets for these specific platforms all within a specific keyword family.

Seeing How People Interact...

The study of groups, a hybrid organizational form between firm and market, is of relevance to industrial organization, corporate finance, development, economic growth and other domains of economic inquiry. Even a well-planned wonk gathering around a narrow business interest can often be deployed in a win-win-win manner.

Please. I do not want to turn this blog over to an acedemic exercise. As all entrepreneurial minded souls, my quest--hopefully as is yours--is to cause business comerce and profits to come to pass for our clients.

Other schools of thought on the political economy of corporate groups, on groups and monopoly power, and on groups as networks are discussed next. Of course political landscapes come into play, too.

There will be some very valuable input from actual marketplace group-builders that you will not want to miss. And along the way, I will be looking to get your group commercially linked with another group of a non-competing and complementary nature (and you leaders can decide what kind of win-win deal you put together).

Of course, over the last 35+ years I have experienced some painful lessons I will reveal for your profiting (as in either stupidly leaving money on the table or allowing others 'more sophisticated than I' run roughshod over me--resulting in more money lost.

But there are the delicious situations where you can sell your business group to a competing or non-competing group and how to avoid the pitfalls and pratfalls (talking of self here!) that hound both the savvy and chunkheaded business group developer alike. We will talk about the formatting possibilities you have with your group--membership websites, pay-as-you-go concepts and more.

Would This Stuff Work for a Non-Profit or Not-For-Profit Group?

In a word, yes. However, the question connotes a much more formalized approach that we want to get into here--PLUS--we want to concentrate on creating commercially viable groups and groupings that mostly exist WITHIN your current business framework. Fair enough?

As this is Post #1, I realize this is introductory stuff, but feel free to comment. I am basically giving away my life's work here; hence, I promise you will not be bored!

Resource List for Building Business Groups

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Building Commerce, Building Individual Success,
Steve