Page 178 - (DK) The Business Book

176 SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

In the digital, networked economy,
people can work anywhere, at any
time. This shift in working habits
is changing the face of business
environments and staff distribution.

purchase; cost and speed of delivery
are critical too. Free shipping and
free returns are attractive incentives
to purchase. Time of delivery is also
important: retailers who can offer
one-hour time slots and deliver
beyond the traditional working day
gain a competitive edge. Customer
service is more important than ever.

Feedback is king
in retail, for example, traditionally Today, however, the Internet is free Whatever the goods being sold,
relied on a prominent store on a and technology prices are relatively they must be of the quality stated,
town’s main street, where the inexpensive. Cloud computing— because feedback on the Internet
retailer could attract the largest whereby organizations share virtual can have a powerful effect on the
number of customers through the infrastructure, software, and market. For hotels and restaurants,
door. Companies often depended storage —has enabled small feedback and ratings by customers
on a large sales force, who visited businesses to have access to the are now the norm, and many
customers to build relationships. power of integrated networks and consumers base their purchasing
Businesses held significant computing at a very low cost, and decisions on other people’s
amounts of stock in warehouses, with no use of physical space. comments. A well-run, small,
and had a large office staff to take Just as scale is no barrier to family-owned hotel, which focuses
phone calls and handle paperwork. success, neither is geography. on excellent service and delighting
That has all changed. A small business can now reach its guests, can build a reputation as
Consumers can now find retailers customers all over the world just the number one place to stay in a
large or small via the Internet from a as effectively as a large one. It is particular town—ahead of a big
laptop, smartphone, or tablet. The possible to live on one side of the chain hotel—because of review
physical scale of a business no longer globe and sell items from an entirely websites such as Trip Advisor.
correlates with success. Many different continent. The introduction
businesses no longer need large of PayPal in 2000 allowed simple
offices. Paperwork has diminished, payment and money transfers in a
while online communication—email, wide range of currencies via the
instant messaging, and social media Internet, furthering opportunities
—allows sole-traders and employed for small companies to operate as The Internet is really
people alike to work remotely, from global e-commerce businesses. about highly specialized
home, anywhere in the world. information, highly
Large companies used to be Competing with giants specialized targeting.
more competitive than small With an increasing choice of goods Eric Schmidt
companies because they had better and services available online for
US former CEO of Google
economies of scale (the cost consumers, small businesses must
(1955–)
advantages that enterprises obtain offer something more than the giants
due to size). When computers were in order to compete. Price is critical
first developed, this continued to be because consumers can easily
true, because large, costly servers compare prices online. But it is not
were required for file storage. the only factor that affects an online