We’ve explored the private sector in a kind of “wild west” small business meets small town kind of way. Then we released the kraken upon the small town and watched as feast or famine swept the little island community. Now, we analyze some of the signs that can be identified around town, and may serve as an omen of a failed economic system. As a disclaimer I am not a decorated economist, and these insights are a process of my own personal theories (mostly gathered over the years watching documentaries, reading news articles, and referring to similar events that have taken place throughout history). These theories should be taken as speculative thinking and nothing more until you have done your own homework and formed your own opinion.
Toxicity Inc.
In a toxic corporate environment the cash-flow is all but removed from the island all together, and used to invest in building new locations for the same corporation, owned by the same people. This is why most of the individuals on the island are now living paycheck to paycheck, because a large portion of the island's wealth has been sucked into the vacuum bag, and moved to a different location for these new expansions, where the process begins all over again. This cripples a community’s economic status when big businesses do this without giving back to that original community that brought them said success. In many ways it is up to big corporations whether or not they will maintain an economic balance of wealth in any given area they occupy. The corporation's ethical financial activity will present itself as being self-evident if some of these circumstances begin to occur within a community:
· A rise in Commercial Real Estate “For Sale”, “For Lease”, “For Rent” signs in windows
· The residential housing market becomes stagnant, and landlords have difficulty finding applicable tenants to rent to
· Welfare and Unemployment dependency increases, parallel to the rise in poverty/hardship
· Banks tighten up lending, due to the increase in loans going delinquent, or entering default
· “Panhandlers/homeless becoming a problem” is in the news, and leads to stigmatizing/ostracizing those who are poor or have become downtrodden by the failed economic system by those stating "get a job!", but monetary inflation through various sources without any new creation of value causes the cost of doing business to increase
· Crime on the rise, usually burglaries, theft, breaking and entering, home invasions with the intent of all the above. (Desperation is the sad motive, and lack of knowledge/resources is typically the cause of said effect)
I wish I could say I have a magic pill to easily cure a situation like this, but it’s much more complex than I make it out to be. What may help, is for one to take individual responsibility in playing an active role in their community and monitor government activities. Having a phone number to your house representative or senate wouldn’t hurt, but politicians are a far cry from a real world solution to what is a self-inflicted wound caused by the local population. Becoming a “productive” consumer, by spreading the transfer of wealth to local businesses instead of always shopping at one spot, or the same place you work, could get the ball rolling in a healthier direction. Getting your community’s legislator to insist on the big businesses within the community, that meet certain criteria, to participate in more fundraisers or business to business relationships with locals and charity events may be a laudable idea, but not a promising one as they're not obligated to give any money back once you have given it to them. Creating unique ventures within your area may attract new/outside money which would contribute to the community cash flow and manifest more opportunities.
How Large Corporations Help the Little Guy
In the small business economy, the local shop owners are made up of collectors, farmers, and manufacturers of niche products (i.e. meat market, antique shop, kids clothing, ladies clothing, toys, etc.), who carry their own products. Then there are some owners of variety shops that sell products supplied by several residents of the town. These owner’s variety shops act as a central hub for several different market niches to come together in one location. Essentially, this is how large retailer chains are started. What these shops do for entrepreneurs is supply them with a market for their product or services, without them having to build storefront and a market from scratch, just to sell their product.
Now, these entrepreneurs would be considered the vendors for these variety shops or retailers. There are different types of agreements vendors can make with retailers as far as how they will carry their merchandise. I’ll go into more detail about these agreements in another article. In a nutshell the vendor wants to get their great product in front of a lot of customer traffic. In the small business economy the vendor would have to make several different meetings and sign several different distribution agreements with many different variety shop owners in order to build a very large market of consumers for their product. This is a downside to the small business economy.
In the corporate global economy, there is huge opportunity for entrepreneurs to become multi-millionaires, seemingly overnight! The large retail outlets that exist today boast the largest consumer markets that have ever existed, reaching across the entire world! As an entrepreneur, if you could take your own product and create a vendor agreement with just one of today’s top retailers, there is a strong possibility that you will be made in the shade at that point! The downside in the global economy is that these large retailer agreements typically have more litigation and formality guidelines involved with landing a spot on their shelves. These big retailers have the power of the market on their side. If you are going to get in their stores, there’s a strong chance you are playing by their rules, or else you can try your luck at marketing your own goods.
The War between Power and Balance
With the world’s population on course to reach nine billion by 2050, a smaller economy just doesn’t seem like it would be able to handle the amount of demand, or can it? The exponential growth of technology may lead to more solutions than we could ever conceive with the mind alone. Large corporations are here to stay, but small business will never go extinct. I see the future having less employed people and more entrepreneurs who are considered micro-brands or are self-branded that create intellectual or tangible products and/or services that are distributed through big corporate owned mediums. This theory of mine doesn’t say much in comparison to what is already happening in our economy today, but take what I have shared in this article on my perception of the world of commerce, combine that with my article I wrote back in May2013: What’s Happening to All the Jobs? , then combine that with a little research of your own, and I think you’ll see where I am going with this theory. Our economy is going through some major changes, and I am learning as much as can to position myself to avoid being upside down once the shift has completed.
In a toxic corporate environment the cash-flow is all but removed from the island all together, and used to invest in building new locations for the same corporation, owned by the same people. This is why most of the individuals on the island are now living paycheck to paycheck, because a large portion of the island's wealth has been sucked into the vacuum bag, and moved to a different location for these new expansions, where the process begins all over again. This cripples a community’s economic status when big businesses do this without giving back to that original community that brought them said success. In many ways it is up to big corporations whether or not they will maintain an economic balance of wealth in any given area they occupy. The corporation's ethical financial activity will present itself as being self-evident if some of these circumstances begin to occur within a community:
· A rise in Commercial Real Estate “For Sale”, “For Lease”, “For Rent” signs in windows
· The residential housing market becomes stagnant, and landlords have difficulty finding applicable tenants to rent to
· Welfare and Unemployment dependency increases, parallel to the rise in poverty/hardship
· Banks tighten up lending, due to the increase in loans going delinquent, or entering default
· “Panhandlers/homeless becoming a problem” is in the news, and leads to stigmatizing/ostracizing those who are poor or have become downtrodden by the failed economic system by those stating "get a job!", but monetary inflation through various sources without any new creation of value causes the cost of doing business to increase
· Crime on the rise, usually burglaries, theft, breaking and entering, home invasions with the intent of all the above. (Desperation is the sad motive, and lack of knowledge/resources is typically the cause of said effect)
I wish I could say I have a magic pill to easily cure a situation like this, but it’s much more complex than I make it out to be. What may help, is for one to take individual responsibility in playing an active role in their community and monitor government activities. Having a phone number to your house representative or senate wouldn’t hurt, but politicians are a far cry from a real world solution to what is a self-inflicted wound caused by the local population. Becoming a “productive” consumer, by spreading the transfer of wealth to local businesses instead of always shopping at one spot, or the same place you work, could get the ball rolling in a healthier direction. Getting your community’s legislator to insist on the big businesses within the community, that meet certain criteria, to participate in more fundraisers or business to business relationships with locals and charity events may be a laudable idea, but not a promising one as they're not obligated to give any money back once you have given it to them. Creating unique ventures within your area may attract new/outside money which would contribute to the community cash flow and manifest more opportunities.
How Large Corporations Help the Little Guy
In the small business economy, the local shop owners are made up of collectors, farmers, and manufacturers of niche products (i.e. meat market, antique shop, kids clothing, ladies clothing, toys, etc.), who carry their own products. Then there are some owners of variety shops that sell products supplied by several residents of the town. These owner’s variety shops act as a central hub for several different market niches to come together in one location. Essentially, this is how large retailer chains are started. What these shops do for entrepreneurs is supply them with a market for their product or services, without them having to build storefront and a market from scratch, just to sell their product.
Now, these entrepreneurs would be considered the vendors for these variety shops or retailers. There are different types of agreements vendors can make with retailers as far as how they will carry their merchandise. I’ll go into more detail about these agreements in another article. In a nutshell the vendor wants to get their great product in front of a lot of customer traffic. In the small business economy the vendor would have to make several different meetings and sign several different distribution agreements with many different variety shop owners in order to build a very large market of consumers for their product. This is a downside to the small business economy.
In the corporate global economy, there is huge opportunity for entrepreneurs to become multi-millionaires, seemingly overnight! The large retail outlets that exist today boast the largest consumer markets that have ever existed, reaching across the entire world! As an entrepreneur, if you could take your own product and create a vendor agreement with just one of today’s top retailers, there is a strong possibility that you will be made in the shade at that point! The downside in the global economy is that these large retailer agreements typically have more litigation and formality guidelines involved with landing a spot on their shelves. These big retailers have the power of the market on their side. If you are going to get in their stores, there’s a strong chance you are playing by their rules, or else you can try your luck at marketing your own goods.
The War between Power and Balance
With the world’s population on course to reach nine billion by 2050, a smaller economy just doesn’t seem like it would be able to handle the amount of demand, or can it? The exponential growth of technology may lead to more solutions than we could ever conceive with the mind alone. Large corporations are here to stay, but small business will never go extinct. I see the future having less employed people and more entrepreneurs who are considered micro-brands or are self-branded that create intellectual or tangible products and/or services that are distributed through big corporate owned mediums. This theory of mine doesn’t say much in comparison to what is already happening in our economy today, but take what I have shared in this article on my perception of the world of commerce, combine that with my article I wrote back in May2013: What’s Happening to All the Jobs? , then combine that with a little research of your own, and I think you’ll see where I am going with this theory. Our economy is going through some major changes, and I am learning as much as can to position myself to avoid being upside down once the shift has completed.
