100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS • 125In certain instances, the entry requirements for different markets
become very similar, enabling fi rms to participate easily in multiple
industries, spreading risk and gaining benefi ts of scale.
The idea
As companies grow and establish themselves, they typically acquire
a signifi cant number of assets. These factors of production (such as
employees, land, or machinery) may have multiple uses, allowing
them to be used to produce a variety of products in a cost-effective
way. In this way, a valuable competitive edge can be gained when
entering new markets.
This tactic was employed by a large number of utility companies
in the 1980s and 1990s that, following industry deregulation,
realized they had the means of production to operate in the gas,
electricity, telephone, and water markets simultaneously. They
put their large number of core competencies—including call
centers, advanced metering and billing services, and maintenance
vehicles—to full use in a variety of markets, increasing their
effi ciency and turnover.
Are you certain your organization is doing all it can to serve
customers, using all the resources at its disposal? By recognizing
all the possible uses of assets, an organization can get the most
from its resources, spread fi nancial risk, and increase convenience
for customers.