Every company’s business is unique. There are some; however, that have been remarkably successful in a variety of economic climates. This post will discuss some of the more notable companies and their business successes and how they could accomplish these feats.
1. Washington Mutual
Washington Mutual Bank (WAMU) was a bank based in Seattle, Washington, that went bankrupt and was taken over by the federal government in 2008. It was founded in 1889 and operated as mutual savings and loans, always chaired by the founder. WAMU has been credited with being one of the most profitable banks of its time.
In 1998, WAMU started acquiring banks such as Wells Fargo and Oregon’s First Interstate Bank to get larger. As Alan Greenspan was the chairman of the Federal Reserve, it is believed that WAMU could borrow money on such sound financial footing that they could take over multiple banks with little difficulty. The idea behind this strategy was to move from a ‘community bank’ model to a more ‘multi-bank approach. WAMU was forced into bankruptcy in 2008 and its assets were divided up among various US government agencies.
2. DoubleClick Inc. & Google Inc.
DoubleClick is a web advertising network based in New York City. DoubleClick was founded in 1995 by a group of investors, including Benioff, the co-founder of Salesforce.com. The company originally focused on creating tools that enabled advertisers to analyze their customers’ browsing habits and then deliver targeted advertisements to those customers as the web became more popular. DoubleClick went public in 2004 and since then has been a major player in the online advertising industry.
In 2000, DoubleClick acquired a new company, Google, built the AdSense program. The program would allow web admins to display text ads on their web pages in return for a share of revenues when the visitors clicked on the ads.
3. Amazon.com
Amazon.com is the largest online retailer in the world. It started in 1994 as an online bookstore and eventually expanded to include media, games, electronics, apparel, jewelry, food, grocery items, and digital downloads. The website attracts over 35 million visitors per month.
Amazon has successfully entered various markets because they offer consistent customer service and competitive pricing while encouraging customers to become repeat buyers. Amazon has also taken an innovative approach to the market by inventing or improving upon technologies to gather information about their customers. For example, the Amazon.com website uses ‘1-Click Ordering’ where customers must only click once to order an item after entering the appropriate information. This innovation has led to Amazon becoming one of the largest e-commerce websites, with over 10% of all US online shoppers making at least one purchase per year.
Conclusion
Every company has strengths and weaknesses. This is why it’s important not to look at business successes as an exception but rather as a rule of thumb applicable to all companies. Your company may not necessarily be successful in every market, but by looking at the types of problems that can be solved, you can ascertain areas where your company is most likely to succeed.