Initiatives

It is too obvious to spend much time discussing the importance of product or service reliability, competitive pricing, customer satisfaction and after sales support. These are fundamental to any business situation. The only difference the Internet makes is that any improvements in these areas are not only noticed by customers or clients, they are just as easily noticed by competitors. This allows them to catch up or surpass any new initiatives very quickly.

This puts early movers at a disadvantage because if their initiatives are seen to provide a competitive advantage, they can be copied by competitors who would have the distinct advantage of not having to carry the costs of development or educating the customers or clients. This provides another rule for choosing a suitable business opportunity:

13) There should be no substantial development or pioneering costs.