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.