Think small for that big break

Think small for that big break

Richard Oh, Contributor, Jakarta

When you listen to a marketing executive talk about marketing
targets, terms such as lower segment, middle-lower and middle-
upper segments are bandied about as if that is all there is to
marketing. It gets even more ticklish when you hear them talk
about business opportunities.

You will be absolutely disappointed if you expect to hear
about groundbreaking exciting new business models. What you will
more likely hear is that certain businesses are enjoying a boom,
thus new business opportunities mean opportunities to replicate
these successes. It is easy enough to see why there are so many
factory outlets in Jakarta, child-care learning centers and wine
lounges. The general notion is that these businesses have proven
to be solid money-earners.

There is no consideration of what effects saturation might
have on their businesses in the long run. And worse yet, there is
no conscious effort to strive for innovations or
differentiations. It is as if by setting up one similar business
after another, these business speculators expect to reap results
that have been calculated from the performance model of their
competitors. What they do not know, however, is that with the
arrival of each similar business unit the pie gets sliced
thinner.

With this duplicative business mentality so rampant among the
business speculators, it is hard to find new and exciting
business models in the city. It is really a shame because there
are so many exciting business opportunities that are worth
exploring. For instance, there are whole new markets to be opened
up for teenagers. Parents with teenagers in their households know
for a fact how tiresome it is to follow their teenagers to the
malls and watch them huddle in groups, chatting in corners of the
shopping corridor.

It is such a sore sight to see such sprite and intelligent
teenagers whiling away their time in such a fashion. It does not
take a brilliant entrepreneur to see the potential of a new
business model, which will both relieve the parents of the
tiresome task of chaperoning and allow these teenagers to have a
fabulous time with their peers in an interesting and conducive
environment. An idea immediately comes to mind. A teenage
recreational center, complete with a cafe, dance floor, video
arcade, movie house and a sports hall with supervising adults in
attendance. If that is too ambitious, let us think of a smaller
scale venture. How about a bazaar for teenagers? A place where
the teenagers can weave a basket or sew a blouse or learn to mold
an urn or simply hang out and watch other teenagers at work or
listen to cool bands or celebrate a friend's birthday.

It is not difficult to see why business speculators take
teenage markets for granted. If there is one characteristic to
describe these business folks it is that they like to think big.
In this case, bigness does not denote innovation, but rather how
big or quickly their investments will be returned. Besides, for
them, teenagers are more likely nuisances than a big and
important business opportunity.

When it comes to children aged five and under, there is hardly
any interesting business model, except for the child-care
variants. Every day there is a new child-care learning center
being set up. The hilarious names that they come up with for
these centers gives one the indication of how exhausted this
business truly is. In their mad flurry to copy the next success
model they overlook the abundant potential that can be developed
from this market.

But why aren't there more innovations in this category? I
suppose there are not many business speculators interested in the
delicate art of handling children of this age group. There is, in
my opinion, too much concentration on the children themselves as
the primary targets and not much on the mothers. As custodians,
mothers are the key decision makers. And as modern life becomes
more hectic they depend more and more on various specialized
services to help them cope with their day-to-day needs. It is
interesting to find that there is hardly any specialized service
that caters to mothers of children aged five and under.

Opportunities abound here. One business that comes to mind is
an instant telephone service line for mothers. At the touch of a
button, a mother will have access into the privileged
consultation of pediatricians and various specialists whenever
her need arises. A doctor will be designated for each household
and the history of the family ailments will be on record.

This can be a complimentary service from an insurance company
or from a cellular company. Another idea is a club for mothers.
Think of it like a membership club but one that is specifically
designed to cater to mothers and their children. In it there will
be a playground, a clinic, a childcare center, an educational
center with frequent speakers invited to talk about childcare and
parenting.

One other fun idea is an extracurricular activities organizer
that arranges trips and educational activities for parents with
children of similar age groups. This could be a strictly for
members-only organization, in which for a small monthly fee
members get to go on trips once every two weeks.

I suppose ideas that arise from the needs of parents will
stand as business propositions because over time they can be
further improved upon with innovative developments.

The dire economic downturn calls for more enterprising
businesspeople to meet the challenges of a turbulent world. The
entrepreneurs who stay the course and keep ahead of the
competition are the ones who are not afraid to take some
calculated risks and forge new paths in the market. For these
rare breeds there is the promise of creating new markets and
becoming the leaders, while their lesser counterparts, the
business speculators, languish in shrinking markets, in
businesses of diminishing value.