Take Your Business And Go Home..?

Inspired by the Wall Street Journal article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124390186519374643.html

Article in a nutshell: Because of the emerging economy, companies have been losing market share and some have been forced to pack things up and operate out of their homes.

In an economy such as this, it's commodity businesses that seem to get tossed around like unpaired socks as people rush to find the lowest priced business to satisfy them, or fall out of market in favor of necessities. This is telling of one of the two requirements to survival (in fact, thriving) in the new emerging economy: stop being a commodity business, which I'm sure many people will take as me telling them "stop selling what products you sell and get into a business that isn't a commodity;" but that's not what I'm saying at all.

To make the shift from commodity business owner to thriving entrepreneur, one must take the position of preferred source of, not a product or service - but a solution.

We don't purchase pens, we purchase the ability to write, and in many cases, we purchase the ability to write while having that soft cushy feeling in between our fingers.

We don't purchase books, we purchase the information inside them which will help us solve a problem or satisfy a curiosity, and again in many cases, we'd rather get the leather-bound collectors' edition with the gold embossed logo.

In both examples, it is the preferences and wants of the customer that are taken into consideration far more than the basic need of the customer, though it's still a requirement.