Formula for small business success--location, location, location and physics
The secret to small business success: location, location, location and physics
Choosing the right location is one of the most important and difficult decisions a business owner must make. You could rely on pavement-pounding research, intuition, and a good real estate agent, or you could turn to a new model that analyzes businesses in much the same way that physicists model interactions between spinning atoms.
Pablo Jensen of the Ecole Normal Superiure in France studied the locations of businesses in Lyon to determine which stores seem to attract each other and which stores repel each other (much as atoms can attract or repel each other in various materials). The analysis leads to a quality index Q that automatically reveals promising store locations throughout the city. Q might be high for a jewelery store in a particular location if there are other accessory stores nearby selling shoes or hats, but few neighboring grocery or hardware stores.
Jensen confirmed his model by looking at business data for Lyon in 2003 and 2005. He found that bakeries, for example, that were located in low quality locations in 2003 tended to fail by 2005. Meanwhile, new bakeries popped up preferentially at locations where their Q index is high.
ETA: 2007 for proof of concept
Jensen is currently working with the Lyon Chamber of Commerce to use his model's predictions of Q to help aspiring business owners find promising locations, as well as advising city officials on ways to improve Lyon's commercial opportunities.
For paper " Network-based predictions of retail store commercial categories and optimal locations" go here>> [...]
My final thoughts:
This looks like another smart disruptive technology to me, giving smart-technology-savvy people an early edge.
To parody a common road sign…you are now merging with the Future…be prepared for change & be prepare to change!!!
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Expert, Consultant and Keynote Speaker on Emerging Smart Technologies, Innovation, Strategic Foresight,, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy " To arrange for an in house presentation on smart technology see here To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me or explore how we can work together .....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"- old Japanese proverb .......Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to. - H. Mumford Jones "Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems we created with our current pattern of thought." A. Einstein P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page
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