Suitable Business Location
Background
Modern society has three aspects - social, economic, and political. The social aspect deals with association between some social group/institution (such as family, school, collage, mosque, etc.) and individual, economic aspect deals with interactive relationships between firm/industry and economic agents, and political aspect is dynamic combination of parliament, executive, judiciary, media, civil society, political parties and voters. The economic aspect has three sectors - product sector, service sector, and financial sector. Business Location is important for product sector due to concerns about availability of raw material, it is vital for services sector in order to provide convenience to customers, and it is central for financial sector for efficient communication links. Thus, business location is vital for every sector of modern economy.
Determinants of Business Location
Business growth and survival is based on multiple demand and su pply factors. We may group these factors into two categories - tangible and intangible. The tangible factors can be felt with five senses, while, intangible factors cannot be felt with five senses. The prominent tangible factors are capital, land, physical convenience to customers, and cash in hand, while the prominent intangible factors are entrepreneurship, organizational behaviour, consumer tastes, and social links. At production level, after capital, the possession of land and its suitable location is the most important tangible factor that fortify and maintains manager's stability towards business struggle. At consumption level, customers have great attraction towards easy attainment of product or service. The physical convenience to customer is an important tangible factor that shapes demand-pattern of product or service, so that business location easily accessible to customers is vital for stable customer account. Thus, the most important demand and supply factors for business survival and growth - i.e., stable customer and stable entrepreneur - are strongly linked with business location.
There may be another division of decisive ingredients of business location, input and output elements. The prominent input elements are - convenience to entrepreneur, convenience to work force, cost of transportation, efficient communication links (i.e., phone, internet, wireless, mobile, etc.), government incentives, availability of raw material, availability of cheap labour force, and operational efficiency. On the other hand, the prominent output elements are - convenience to customer, distributional ease, and business effectiveness. The optimal availability and utilization of input elements are beneficial for cost minimization, while the optimal availability and utilization of output elements is beneficial for sales maximization, thus, the combined effect of input-output elements enhances the net return of business struggle, and both are stron gly linked with business location. It is noteworthy that the input-output analysis may also include the social dimensions of business location.
Business Location & Taxonomy of Business
A traditional division of economic struggle or business venture is - farming, agribusiness, mining, manufacturing, and commerce. These classifications give shape to three basic sectors of economic aspect, i.e., agriculture sector, manufacturing sector, and services sector. Agriculture sector or Farming is indispensably based on land. A suitable farm location is required for distinctive farming activities. Agribusiness are highly dependent on land output coming from agriculture sector such as cotton ginning, spinning, tannery, flour production, and sugar manufacturing. These businesses are generally located near to the source of raw material. Similarly, mining is a business highly dependent on land and its hidden treasures, such as oil & gas refinery, gems and stones, and co al extraction. Expenditures on transportation of raw materi`l and facility of warehouses are high and costly, thus, to arrange location of these business units near to the sources of raw material is reasonable approach. The administrative units of the business are generally located somewhere else, normally near to some financial hub. Agribusiness or mining are labour-intensive or raw material-intensive industries. The capital-intensive industry opt a different approach towards business location. Industry location is decided by capital efficiency, labor or raw material is secondary, e.g., automobiles, home appliances, and military equipments. In addition, government incentives, structural facilities, and focused working environment for knowledge workers are some decisive elements for the business location of capital-intensive manufacturing sector.
Commercial businesses or services sector are customer-driven businesses. The very existence of the business depends on easy provision of product/service to consumers. These businesses are highly sensitive to location and its physical appearance, a minor mistake towards location may bring a great loss to a business, for example, a restaurant on some odd area or bit away from customer's easy approach may be a failure. Generally the posh area brings many customers due to snob and bandwagon effects. The snob and bandwagon effects, thus, play an important role in making final decision about location of commercial business. In addition, there are multiple small factors are involved at the time of area selection, for example customer's ease on parking, customer's security, and pleasant customer mobility during shopping. The customized location analysis for each and every commercial business is essential and indispensable. The location analysis of retail would be different from wholesale, retail is generally profitable within city while wholesale is suitable outside the city. A virtual factor has gained special importance in commercial business, product can be displayed on virtual location, monetary transactions can be made through credit cards and product can be delivered through company's courier service. The services sector has accommodated the benefits of virtual location but indispensability and significance of physical location cannot be wiped out.
The non-governmental organizations, trusts, hospitals, and educational institutions are important intuitions of modern society. They are inevitable and essential part of every civilized state. They are critical for physical health, psychological strength, spiritual purification, and social ties. They are managed and operated with entrepreneurial skills and personal devotion. Efficiency and effectiveness of such institutions are also depend on multiple factors such as capital, volunteers, and physical location. A facility away from volunteers or user would be less effective. The location has dual effects; it attracts v olunteers as well as users. A volunteer brings time and money, thus efficiency/effectiveness is increased, and user is eventual beneficiary of a welfare activity, an ultimate goal.
Business Location & Size Analysis
A business venture has four economic sizes -micro, small, medium, and large. A micro business is a single member firm. It has, generally, less than three staff members. A micro business is started with limited capital. The legal structure of micro business is sole-proprietorship. A micro businessman is, generally, self-centered and heavily dependent on micro-management (static, short-sighted, and person-specific approach of management). Physical location is extremely important for micro-business. Land ownership gives peace of mind and sustained motivation for work to businessman. A micro businessman remains micro in his business due to micro-management or austerity leanings towards life.
A small business has, generally, less than ten s taff members. The small businessman has outward looking tendencies with high ambitions. He likes/loves his product/service. The greater psychological challenge of small businessman is MANAGERIAL EGO or NARCISSIM. A small entrepreneur may remain small during his economic life time due to managerial ego/narcissism. He is unable to get synergic benefits. He can work on someone else land and gives utmost importance to capital against the micro manager who is highly land-dependent. A small entrepreneur may enhance her business status through effective entrepreneurship.
A medium business has, generally, less than hundred staff members. The owner of medium size business is outward looking with high ambitions, however, pragmatic towards business aspirations. He likes social interactions, enters into socio-economic links and develops a business circle. He is social-oriented economic entrepreneur. He is generally trapped by social links due to extreme social tendencies. The phys ical location is important for him for solid social ties; it is, sometime, a trap on his economic growth. The social demand extracts his multiple business energies. A medium business may be a global venture due to availability of some global social linkages. A medium entrepreneur may enhance her business status through better management of socio-economic ties. A mid-size family business is sustainable goal for him due to great social leanings towards social ties. A location-oriented socio-economic networking of business can give a stable shape to business.
A large business has, generally, more than three hundred staff members. An owner or initiator of large business is inward oriented, outward looking, dynamic, and visionary. He wants to develop an empire, thus, a suitable physical location is materialization of his entrepreneurial dreams. The boundless intentional energy or Will Power is asset of economic entrepreneur of a large business. His entrepreneurial skills to wards social linkages are relatively low. It may be his strength towards business, he is able to develop or run a large business with professional zest and zeal. Due to limited social leanings and low conceptual intelligence, he is dependent on social entrepreneurs and consultants. The dependency phenomenon, i.e., reliance on consultants/social entrepreneurs, is permanent feature of a large business and demands a proactive / positive stand of owner towards dependency phenomenon. A large business may be a global concern due to presence of marked profit differences between native and global markets.
Challenges / Opportunities of Business Location
A business either micro or small or medium or large faces numerous challenges / threats. The foremost challenge to a business location is cutthroat competition. Business life is predominantly competitive by nature. A suitable business location may add / reduce the competitive environment of a business due to uneven availab ility of capital, work force, or customers.
The second major challenge to suitable business location comes from some cooperative businesses. A cooperative environ is needed to attain or retain some synergic benefits. A sustained unity among members is great challenge towards any strategic alliance due to lustful tendencies of human nature, mushrooming perceptual errors, continuously surfacing miscommunications, incessantly evolving socio-economic changes, and frequently occurring political upheavals. An effective leadership or stable institutional framework is inevitable for everlasting or reasonably long lasting cooperation. A suitable location can bring some advantages to a cooperative business struggle via maximum interaction among stakeholders, now and then. There may be another kind of cooperation, Anchor Benefits. A few businesses flourish due to vicinity to some renowned business, known as anchor businesses, it is forced cooperation a business gets due to its location, e.g., pharmacy develops near hospitals.
An important challenge to business location is Law & Order. A peaceful environ of area is, effectively, a cooperation from government and chaotic situation is indication of non-cooperative government. There may be some other indicators of friendly government such as merit criteria towards businesses, tax incentives to business community, and structural support of government.
Another important challenge/opportunity to business location is regional blocks/globalization. A business location gives an area of effect to entrepreneur due to linkages of the area with customers/stakeholders. A shift in linkages among areas strongly influence the area of effect of entrepreneur because a demographic basis of business is changed, a demographic shift or shift in demand may extend the business circle or may reduce it, thus, a regional/global orientation of business has structural importance for business. In addition, a business linked with some wider markets or global outlets is comparatively more dependent on suitable location due to phenomena of free/easy mobility of various input-output elements. Cost of transportation, government incentives, communication links, subtly restrained competitive-cooperative environ, and cultural aspects are involved in wider/global business, thus, intensive-extensive analysis is needed for suitable business location, physical as well as virtual. A successful native business may be a failure at wider or global level due to bigger and greater threats, while a dwindling native business may get an upwards push due to large and immense opportunities. Moreover, an entrepreneur is habitual of two comfort zones - time oriented comfort zone and space oriented comfort zone. A buying/selling interaction at wider or global level is; obviously, disturb the temporal and spatial setting / movement of entrepreneur. The time-space disturbance may be short-lived and re-adj ustment might be productive and can bring long-run benefits.
Another challenging area is market volatility; a business location is frequently disturbed by market trends. A volatile trend of customer gives shocks to business, now and then. A mature and stable business can easily resist short run volatility of market trends and business location is not affected. A medium run crisis can be managed with land ownership. A change in long run trend leads towards a change in location, thus, business is disintegrated or take a new shape.
Alternatives of Suitable Business Location
We are inhabitants of an incomplete and continuously evolving universe. Ideals are relentlessly pursued, a few are materialized but a lot remains ideal. A suitable business location is sometime an unachievable ideal. There are several alternate options for suitable business location such as home business, industrial districts, vendor business, outsourcing, and virtual business. If these alt ernatives are chased with professional acumen and wisdom, they may become a greater blessing for business growth and survival. The synergic benefits can be reaped through these alternatives; unachievable in autonomous flights of business venture, e.g., industrial districts provide economies of scale to business venture normally available to a large business; home business can give a social push to economic struggle generally available to a large family business, virtual business may give a global look to a business journey, outsourcing can reduce overhead costs, and so on and so forth. It is note worthy the synergic benefits of alternative business locations are available to only an innovative entrepreneur. An innovative entrepreneur is stable towards crises/change, flexible towards pressures/stress, resilient towards threats/challenges, and persistent towards mission/vision.
Concluding Remarks
At the time of initiation, an entrepreneur must evaluate three aspect s of a business venture. They are temporal, spatial, and informational aspects. Temporal analysis of business venture analyzes the trends of market to arrive at some reasonable revenue or demand estimates, spatial analysis considers the physical location of the business in order to minimize the input cost / distribution cost, and informational aspect considers the efficiency in flow of information for quick and accurate decisions. We are living in information age, thus, virtual location or informational aspect of business has gained special and utmost importance for business success. A virtual inefficiency may damage the physical efficiency, while the virtual efficiency may cover up, to some extent, the physical inefficiency. Thus virtual location of business, a recent phenomenon, is supportive to physical location of business.
Muhammad Ilyas
CEO
SMCSE
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