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An Applied R&D Lab Serving Solo and Family-based Entrepreneurs
Excerpt from 'Shamrocks and Nanocorps:
Two Small Is Good Business Webs Compared
A Closer Look at Squirrelfeeders.com and 3RBuilders.Net
Introducing Squirrelfeeders.com and 3RBuilders.Net
Small Is Good Business Webs are decentralized and distributed value chains. The business web's participants are solo and family-based entrepreneurs. For folks in rural areas, a design goal of Small Is Good Business Webs is to have a collaborative business community that individuals, families and small groups of friends can join regardless of where they live.
To create the business models and associated software that will be needed to support Small Is Good Business Webs, the Sohodojo R&D lab is working to launch and grow two demonstration companies; Squirrelfeeders.com and 3RBuilders.Net.
Squirrelfeeders.com will be a decentralized and distributed craftory (craft-oriented factory) manufacturer of products in the backyard wildlife marketplace. Squirrelfeeders.com is designed to be an ideal business to explore youth entrepreneurship training.
Squirrelfeeders.com will provide experience-based business education at the elementary and secondary levels. In addition to having this education component to involve young entrepreneurs, Squirrelfeeders.com will be a really fun business that is also intended to produce significant commerical results.
3RBuilders.Net will be a more serious business. Based on the three 'R's of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, 3RBuilders.Net will construct affordable housing in rural and distressed urban communities. The qualitative and regulatory requirements of building human-habitable housing means that 3RBuilders.Net will be a far more complicated undertaking than our Squirrelfeeders.com business. 3RBuilders.Net will require significant development of skill training and certification components of its business model.
While 3RBuilders.Net will eventually develop a variety of Green building construction techniques, our initial focus will be on the reuse of industrial shipping pallets. This construction technique was developed by Lynn Armstrong, an ecovillager of Earthaven in western North Carolina. You can learn more about Lynn's exciting Green building innovation in our article, Lay Your Pallet Down, Don't Burn It.
Unique Features and Similar Nature
The Small Is Good Business Web Input-Output Model shows that all Small Is Good Business Webs share the same basic nature. They link customers to nanocorps and dejobbed small businesses (usually families or groups of friends) through decentralized and distributed value chains.
Each Small Is Good Business Web also has unique characteristics based on the customer needs they fulfill and the products and services they offer. In the following table, we compare the characteristics of Squirrelfeeders.com and 3RBuilders.Net.
| Squirrelfeeders.com | 3RBuilders.Net | |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of Product | Commodity, high volume, low price | Capital asset, low volume, high price |
| Customer Profile | Individuals and retail middlemen | Local municipalities and corporate sponsors |
| Size of Web | Potentially huge (1,000s) | Large (100s) |
| Certification Importance | Important | Critical |
| Nature of Training | One-to-one mentoring | Formal training and apprenticeships |
| Value Chain Supplements | Relatively rare | Important |
| Customer into Nanocorp | Desired and frequent | Relatively rare |
Differences In Software Infrastructure Support
Small Is Good Business Webs capitalize on different aspects of the software infrastructure that support them as reflected in the following table.
| Squirrelfeeders.com | 3RBuilders.Net | |
|---|---|---|
| Network Infrastructure (Role/Actor Executable Business Models) |
Important | Vital |
| eCommerce Engine (Story-driven, game-oriented) |
Vital | Helpful |
All Small Is Good Business Webs will rely on the network infrastructure of a Role/Actor Executable Business Model to implement their decentralized and distributed value chains. However, for the unique demands of housing construction, network infrastructure will be vital to the 3RBuilders.Net Small Is Good Business Web success.
As competitor in a commodity-based marketplace, Squirrelfeeders.com will rely on its story-driven, game-oriented eCommerce engine to achieve significant and sustainable sales levels.
Small Is Good Business Web Content at Sohodojo
Two sources are most relevant to this article:
- Business Webs at Sohodojo provides the most comprehensive list of business web related content on this web site.
- Shamrocks and Nanocorps: Technology and Business Model Innovation to Bridge the Digital Divide (PDF format) is our most current and complete statement of who we are and what we are doing. Highlights of this presentation include introduction of the Small Is Good Business Web Input-Output Model. This article comparing two Small Is Good Business Webs was spun out of this presentation.
Jim Salmons and Timlynn Babitsky
Sohodojo
30 April 2002
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