What's Changed?

The fundamentals are the same, but some of the variables and the assumptions have changed.  Where did today's change start?

Intel's Price Performance Model
(Moore's Law)

Intel Corporation was a firm full of scientists that understood the concept of Ricardian-Rent.  They decided that they were smart enough to double the output of their product per dollar of sell price.  They decided that through extensive research and development, they could do this over and over again, every 18 months.  Conventional wisdom held that the announcement of new products should be timed (or delayed) to avoid cannibalizing existing products, and making existing (only 18 month old) factories obsolete.  Intel decided that by doubling the performance of new products, they would help enough new people to offset their loss in the value of their factories.  They have been able to do this over and over again since the 1960s.  The effect has been a geometric growth in productivity:

    2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 ... (to today's very large numbers)

They started with small numbers.  But after forty years, each double today results in a major increase in technology.

Other firms and entire industries have adopted Intel's model.

Information is now free and immediate

You might consider this an exaggeration if you recently purchased a new computer system or related technology.  But when building your business, you might assume that this is true for your competition, even though you have to pay for technology.  Most of the changes we see in the assumptions and the variables of business in this new millennium are driven by changes in the cost and immediate availability of information.

Consider the following:
1.) Product Life Cycles have shrunk,
2.) Barriers to entry have disappeared,
3.) Small firms compete on a more lever playing field with large firms,
4.) Most industries seem to have excess competition,
5.) Competition is everywhere, and is driving down everyone's profits, 
6.) There are 20 competitors for each new client were there used to be three,
7.) Clients can get exactly what they want, when they want it, and
8.) other similar changes.

As a small businessperson you might say this is bad.  If you're going to live in the real world, it isn't good or bad.  It just is.  You accept it and deal with it.  You find the opportunity in it.

Continue by clicking: Client Focus