"An organization which claims to be working for the needs of a community must work to provide that community with a position of strength from which to make its voice heard." -- Stokley Carmichael
The Internet has Changed Business FOREVER!
1. Physical Stuff. It matters less.
Some say that information is the currency of the 21st Century. Physical Products matters less, since the processing of information and the distribution of information is becoming dramatically more powerful and cost-effective.
Example: Yahoo!, the online search engine company, went from $400 million to $5 billion in two years. Google blew up practically overnight. You Tube, MySpace and Facebook are less than 5 years old.
Why? Because the market believes these companies have a lock on key intangibles that will build giant profit streams in the future.
The National Black Business Trade Association, Inc. (NBBTA) is a Global People and Technology Membership Network. NBBTA is about connecting people to processed information, intangibles, products, services, other technologies as well as to each other in the network.
2. Distance.
Distance has vanished. The world is your customer and your competitor. Geography has always played a key role in determining who competed with whom. Now your business can connect instantly with customers all over the globe. Flipside: You're exposed to worldwide competitors as well. The opportunity, and the threat, has never been greater.
Example: Amazon.com has sold millions of dollars in books to millions of people in 160 countries, out of an office in Seattle, Washington.
Jeff Bezos is a Billionaire, but his company has yet to make a profit. Meanwhile, the giant U.S. telcos are starting to face competition from Internet Telephony VOIP start-ups founded around the world.
NBBTA is leveraging the Internet and other Technologies to expand worldwide at a much faster rate than conventional Black business organizations.
NBBTA will do this by partnering with people believing in the same ideals.
3. Time.
It's collapsing. Instant interactivity is critical, and is breeding accelerated change. In a world of instantaneous connection, there is a huge premium on instant response and the ability to learn from and adapt to the marketplace in real time. Winning companies accept a culture of constant change and are willing to constantly break down and reconstruct their products and processes - even the most successful ones.
Example: Dell Computer has revolutionized PC sales by offering machines built directly from buyers' requests. Its lightning-fast inventory and purchase cycles terrify its competitors, and its analysis of customer orders allows it to adapt to trends ahead of the curve.
NBBTA keeps current on leading edge technology, while using database information and member input to stay in front of the curve. NBBTA recognizes that in order for its members to become and stay leading edge, it needs to be connected to its members, for they can go where we cannot.
4. People.
They're the crown jewels...and they know it. Brain power can't be tallied on a ledger sheet, but it's the prime factor driving the New Economy. More than ever in history, huge value is being leveraged from smart ideas - and the winning technology and business models they create. So the people who can deliver them are becoming invaluable, and methods of employing and managing them are being transformed.
Example: Microsoft successfully "locked in" one of the world's most talented work forces by giving them stock options worth literally billions of dollars.
NBBTA profit shares with its members when they refer others to join our association, and to those they refer, and so forth.
5. Growth.
It's accelerated by the network. The Internet can dramatically boost the adoption of a product or service by "viral marketing," network-enhanced word of mouth.
Communications is so easy on the Web, product awareness spreads like wildfire. So once a company reaches critical mass, it can experience increasing returns leading to explosive growth. This principle means that in the New Economy, first-mover advantages are greater than ever.
Example: Hotmail, a free email service backed by relatively modest funding, was able to grow a subscriber base of 10 million within two years. It was bought by Microsoft for a reported $400 million, and today it is still attracting more than 100,000 new sign-ups per day.
NBBTA uses a network-enhanced word of mouth method to spread its value and opportunity. NBBTA uses a more viral approach in recruiting members that would like to share in the opportunity. Those members will bring the message to the rest of the world.
6. Value.
It rises exponentially with market share. For products that help establish a platform or standard, the network effect is even more pronounced: The more plentiful they become, the more essential each individual unit is, a striking exception to the
economic rule that value comes from scarcity. In addition, some companies give away their products to establish market share, then sell linked services later on. Network effects were experienced historically in the adoption of telephones and fax machines. The difference today is that because everyone is linked, far more products and services gain their value from widespread network acceptance.
Example: RealNetworks, who produced Real Audio, invested heavily in its streaming media players, distributed them free on the Web, and created a standard, which the markets now value as being worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
NBBTA has established a platform standard for those that wish to connect with other like minded people and to develop home based businesses connected on the Internet.
7. Efficiency.
The middleman lives. "Infomediaries" replace intermediaries. Traditional distributors and agents are seriously threatened by a networked economy in which buyers can deal directly with sellers. But a new brand of middleman has been created. As the amount of info-clutter grows, these infomediaries are needed to turn dumb data into usable information. They offer aggregated services, or intelligent customer assistance, or powerful technology-based buying aids, or an attractive, community-based buying environment.
Example: NBBTA, America Online, eBay, Travelocity, and virtually every e-commerce site on the Web are infomediaries.
NBBTA and its members will be the quintessential Infomediary, connecting Black buyer and seller around the globe.
8. Markets.
Buyers are gaining dramatic new power - and sellers new opportunity. It's no longer necessary for your customer to walk down the street to compare prices and services. Your competitor may be a mouse-click away. And intelligent software will help buyers find the best deal. So businesses that genuinely offer unique services or lower costs will flourish, benefiting from a flood of new buyers. Those that have relied on physical barriers to competition will fail.
Example: The annoying hassle of purchasing a car has been all but eliminated by online shopping services, which allow you to research vehicle model and pricing information. Within 24 hours, you can be contacted with quotes from nearby dealers. One such service handled over 1 million transactions in their first year.
NBBTA believes who "owns" the customer is key to longevity. Empowering its members with the tools needed to establish a customer base and combining these members into a consortium, with "Shop with Purpose" we are able to negotiate better deals for products and services to pass through to our distributors and customers - giving NBBTA Members the Power.
9. Transactions.
It's a one-on-one game. Information is easier to customize than hard goods. The information portion of any good or service is becoming a larger part of its total value. Thus, suppliers will find it easier and more profitable to customize products, and consumers will begin to demand this sort of tailoring. Example: Office-product supplier Staples uses personalization to reduce the costs large companies incur when ordering office supplies electronically. Staples creates customized supply catalogs that contain only those items and prices negotiated in contracts, and retains lists of previously ordered items. In turn, Staples learns a great deal about its customers' preferences and uses that information to make customized special offers. Even paper clips can be sold one-on-one.
NBBTA will use companies like Search Estate to give each member its own personalized web site, so when customers order products and services they can do so through the member's web site. In time, partners will be given options on what products and services they offer on their web site, giving them the ability to market to their market niche.
10. Impulse.
Every product is available everywhere. The gap between desire and purchase has closed. The shelf space of the World Wide Web is unlike any other in that it has no bounds. Artificial constraints on choice are replaced by the ability to purchase the precise product you desire. The impulse to buy and the purchase itself used to be separated by a combination of physical and mental barriers. When you hear a song on the radio, you had to both remember the song or the artist and actually go to a store to purchase. Online, it's different. Discover a product you desire, and just hit the "buy" button. Consequence: the processes for marketing, sales, and fulfillment have merged.
Example: A visitor to any artists website who decides to buy a CD after seeing it reviewed can do so straightaway through a link with Amazon - without leaving the media context (the ATN site) in which the demand was generated. No more month-long waits before the next trip to a music store. And the Internet's powerful audit loop means that the agent of demand generation - ATN can be correctly identified, credited, and compensated.
NBBTA Audio, Video and Graphics will be utilized to present products and services to the buyer and all they need to do is push "buy" to get it. This is the "New Way of Doing Business". New Rules. New Paradigms. New Business Models. New Economy. Attention Black Business Owners and Entrepreneurs. Are you ready to do Business.
THE RULES (c) nbbta.org 2004-2008
