Business Misadventures

"Business Misadventures" is a fictionalized nonfiction story on the fascinating subject of entrepreneurial initiative and adventure. This is an engaging account of entrepreneurial thinking, business model design, and evolving competitive strategy. Complex international financing and accounting models and creativity, corporate design, the pursuit of special relationships with stakeholders are presented to the reader in an uncomplicated way. This is not an academic book This is about the dirty gritty methods on how business really works and how business adventure can lead to business misadventures and corporate survival. The storyline helps the reader understand the intricacies of corporate life from the point of view of different stakeholders as the business adventure unfolds. This is not a business book that prescribes solutions to challenges that aren't real challenges. The book tells it like it really is, fiercely candid and realistic. Some of the advice given to business executives is to shun trying to beat your competitors and instead to focus on making their value propositions irrelevant by providing superior value for your customers. In business, there is no one-size solution. A disruptive business initiative that has succeeded in one market at one time may not deliver the same results if at all. Most markets are red ocean markets. They're red because the incumbents compete in the same market and for a larger share of the existing market. Based on their business paradigms they compete for a larger share of the market and adapt strategy if the market grows or contracts. Changes to market size can be indigenous and exogenous and these market shifts in time will give rise to submarkets due to changes to an existing customer or newly acquired customer preferences. Exogenous events or new competitors entering to distort markets and establish profitable market niches can also alter markets and challenge the status quo. The advice given to business leaders is to differentiate themselves from competitors and create a blue ocean for their products & services. The challenge for both challenger and incumbent is to formulate a competitive strategy that best fits their respective business model and resources. This is the story of a nimble challenger using an aggressive albeit classical disruptive strategy to enter and build a defensible market segment and an industry heavyweight incumbent fighting to protect its cash cow position. There is further drama as the story takes place in the Near East with its fast-changing landscape and flexible business practices. This is not an academic book although it's written in case study format utilizing business theory from the resourced based view of the Austrian School of Economics and the practical insights and experience of America's largest private business the Koch Industries and their Market-Based Management. A reading list is presented at the end of the book.