Individual-based Business vs. Conglomerate Enterprise

Season’s cheers and season’s blues … That’s especially true for the Christmas time in Seattle. Solution: out to a sunshine place instead of a local crowded coffee shop.

Comes the sunshine, comes the new way of travel, too. Want to meet the locals and have a nice place to stay? Try AirBnB. Transportation? Let’s Uber or Lyft it with a fraction of the taxi fare. Amazingly many high-end hotels and airports have added a designated spot with a new sign “Uber/Lyft Pick-up location”. The driver will happily tell you where to go and to have fun, with a sunny smile on the face.

By 2016, Airbnb is estimated to worth more than Hilton and Hyatt combined at around $30.2 billion market valuation. For Uber, some valuation puts it above the market value of GM, Honda or Ford. Taxi companies? No one mentions them that much anymore.

With the help of these new business models on web and mobile, individuals are taking their lives into their own hands: no need upfront capital, no need set up a company or find a partnership, no need extensive training or experiences. These are simply common people who are making money handily for themselves and offering values to the broad customers at the same time.

Even just gradually, changes are there: individual power has been enhanced and traditional market space is rattled and squeezed. How about the old-fashioned companies and businesses then? Often they have to offer similar services and competitive advantages, or they are buying the start-ups to stay relevant. After all, they either get bigger or disappear.

Are we already seeing a glimpse of the future? Do we see Wayne Enterprises? (But let’s hope that we won’t live in the city of Gotham in Batman movies.) They are giant conglomerates, powerful and omnipresent, and they can do many things. On the other hand, we have millions of Joes and Bobs who are running their businesses as individuals. Yes, the world may get more polarized even before the appearance of the robotic workforce in quantity.

For now, let’s cherish our changing time and hope that by next Christmas season, there will be some new learning again.