This post was inspired by an entry on “Ubigen” titled “In business, are you a Chef or a Cook?“. His post was more directed towards answering

What should a business be? A cook? Or a Chef?

I am going to deviate a little with my own perspective of business itself.

So My question would be, Does your business develop products and services that taste like chicken or beef? If either, how does your business cater for “vegetarians”. Or does it cater for meat lovers only, because it is niche oriented? Or perhaps not?

My questionable analogy delves into various debatable areas, such as what a business should look like and should run like, in general.

What should a business look like?
A business should look like a very particular dinner party thrown by a host that catered for all the invited guests that still remains memorable in our mind.

When you design a business, even if its a niche based business, all your customers for that particular type of business should be catered for, in the way your business presents its products and services.

This can be done through analysis on the kind of customers your business expects and how this customers are different from one another. This is done through developing a product and service that caters for all your expected customers, thereby giving all your different type of customers the perception that the business was specifically developed for them.

When you design a business environment, you need to keep in mind, what makes your products and services acceptable to all your targeted customers, hence during designing your product or services, you should keep all your customers needs and expectations in mind.

What should a business run like?
A business should run like a charity that takes money for a thoughtful cause.
Your business should run like a charity, and treat every single customer like a contributor with a thank you note. A charity treats all their contributors with great respect, understanding and unmeasurable appreciation for donating. Your business should do the same.

Your business should also be able to operate with or without you, through the design of a system that ensures that all your business process can be done with or without you.

Now what do you think a business should look like, and run like?
Let me know through your commentaries.