In the perspective of a business owner, what do think comes first? Interpret the question anyway you like. It's not some school question (I'm not in school and I have my answer). I'm just curious to see if anyone else has arrived at the same conclusion. Feel free to include the reason behind your answer.
First you have a goal or a vision. Then you create a legal framework where you can make a business to fulfill that vision. Then you hire staff and work towards that vision.
Can't argue with that logic. I'd like to add investment capital as a requirement. If you've got $5, there's not much you can do. With $50k, you have quite a bit more options and flexibility in how you get started.
Nope, a market does. Build a market and then make a profit. Look at YouTubes business model. Millions of people to potentially tap into. But if you have noone to sell anything to then there's no point in business.
Market isn't always required though. Sometimes you can carve out a market, and get people to buy crap they didn't even know they wanted. I'd say a markertable idea, or a market.
I agree at the end of the day you need a markertable idea, or a market for the purpose of making a profit, no profit = no business. The only thing that matters in business is profit, yes you need everything else in order to achieve that profit but nothing is more important.
I'm not sure I totaly agree. I heard someone say once "Go after success, and profit will follow". That always kinda struck a chord with me. Sometimes going after absolute profit at the expense of overall success might seem like a good idea, but getting the success in the long term should lead to higher overall profits. I can't disagree that profit is the end goal of all businesses, but I think maybe it shouldn't always be the primary aim.
even with the example of "go after success, and profit will follow" your main end goal and primary focus is still profit, your just taking a longer route to get larger profit.
Without market, no business, and no profit. Too many people have fallen down and got themselves bankrupted on this. They fall in love with a business idea. They fall in love with owning a business and making lots of profit. But the reason they fail is because they don't consider whether there is a market for their business in the first place, and how to access that market (better than their competitor does). So they fail to research the market before diving in, not knowing whether their product will fill a need/want in the first place. They fail to research what people will be prepared to pay for it, so they don't even know whether it would be profitable or not. They fail to consider how to actually meet that consomer want/need, whether they have the money, skills and knowledge to do that, and create the product that reflects their personal vision and skills/knowledge/resources rather than what the market actually wants or needs and is prepared to pay good money for. Know your market. It is your source of income.
market the reason it isnt profit is because i work for a company which is non-profit, and we have a large national market for our services.
That’s fair enough, but if that company were to make a loss, or received no government subsidies it would no longer exist.
USP, gap/ opportunity in the market and following (and deciphering between) proactive or reactive concepts.
with regards to the OP my answer would be happiness. Ive run a company now for 7 years this year and apart from all the business stuff, nos 1 you have to be happy or content with what you are doing.
Important thing is to have a business plan - and not just something you've made up to satisfy whoever you're trying to get a loan from. It's got to be an honest appraisal of your market, how you're going to fit into it, and what you realistically expect to get out of it in income; plus how you're going to set about doing that. What your capital costs are going to be, and your running costs. You can't afford to be dishonest to yourself, it's your business you're planning. Then you've got to work to your plan or create a new plan if things change. Playing it by ear doesn't work, you've got to budget both your time and your money. Biggest danger? Borrowing too much start-up money IMO. Make do until you have some income, so you can plough back your own profits for expansion. Adding interest charges kills profit margin.
I agree with this that. GCSE Business Studies also agrees (most answers came down to that or economies of scale, ahh good times). Back on topic, at the end of the day, what is the point of a buisness? To achieve profit maximisation first, and to survive, second. Sure, you can have a market, but whats the point if you're not going to make any money? Okay, you probably need a market to get profit, but the ultimate goal of most private sector businesses *should* be profit maximisation.
We were given a project for Business Studies at school which was titled something similar to "What is the main aim of a business?". We went to my mates dad who was a very successful businessman who had earnt millions in shipping, and asked him. He found it extremely funny, called our teacher an idiot and said "to make money". No need for 3000 words.
