Resilient Business Communities:Your Input Requested
In recent years I have developed a keen interest in what might be identified as the "elements of a resilient business community." I live in an area of the country, rural/coastal northwest Washington, where the economy is dominated by small business. Truthfully most of the United States is in a similar position as the director of any Chamber of Commerce will readily affirm.
Unlike metropolitan areas where often there are larger enterprises serving to establish "economic thrust," in areas like ours the success of small businesses seem to me to be almost entirely dependent on the support of customers or clients in our local area.
With this much obvious interdependency, local business owners still express constant concern for their visibility and viability when faced with price advantages offered by on-line shopping or "big box" stores a reasonable drive away. Unfortunately I find that all too often these merchants do their fretting in private and hope for the benevolence of local citizens.
The sort of tensions I am describing seem quite normal to me. What I question is whether it is possible to break the cycle of rugged self-reliance on the part of our local business owners without throwing the "baby out with the bath water." As a business owner myself for the past twenty years I share the interest I see in other owners to pursue their own path and express themselves through a commercial venture, sort of test themselves in the open market of perceived value. However, is it possible to begin to harness the aggregate business wisdom in a given local area in service of all participants? Why merely depend on patronizing each others' businesses, why not also be available to advise, coach,critique and most importantly hold each other to account for actions committed to?
So I am asking for your input, and the input of those you know and trust. If you were tasked with developing a total framework that would reliably support a resilient, sustainable commercial community in a defined local area,
- What elements would you make sure were present in the local political environment?
- What measurements and statistics would you use to describe healthy businesses?
- What education, books, programs would you want to have available as part of a basic business owner's curriculum?
- How might you explain to local business owners the possible benefits of taking a collaborative approach to business development?
Personally I am intrigued by the idea of being able to spend time with other business owners reflecting on lessons learned while considering the wisdom gleaned from newly published works like Jeff Hayzlett's "The Mirror Test" or Michael Gerber's classic, The E Myth. Or, having one of my local colleagues share with me the latest technical application that has proven profitable to install.
What would you recommend/suggest/insist be included in the development of a "community" approach such as the one I am pursuing?
I am currently working on a blog post called Who's Your Partner? - it addresses this problem by insisting on thoughtful colaboration instead of mindless competition. Basically you align yourself with competitors in other areas (outside your immediate market) and agree to work in conjunction with each other. This is currently working out quite well for
a group of individuals that make "Small Houses" for people who are enviromentally conscious and want to leave a smaller foot print. They have even gone as far as advertising each others blogs on their own blogs. it
is really quite compeling