Everyone wants the success of these four superstar companies, but how many of us know their secret?
Uber, the largest taxi service in the world, doesn’t own any taxis. Facebook is the most popular media owner in existence, but creates no content. Alibaba is the most valuable retailer in the world, and has no inventory. Airbnb is the world’s largest accommodation provider, but owns no real estate. These companies are worth billions of dollars, and are considered the largest in the world—but other than their net worth, they all have one thing in common. None of them actually own anything they provide to their customers.
I’ll bet a thought bubble just popped up over your head with a big question mark inside it, right? Yes, this is the genius of all of these companies: they are able to make hundreds of millions of dollars without owning a single product, service, or bit of content they deliver. How is this possible? Traditionally, businesses have to either manufacture or create their own products and services, then sell them to the end user. That’s not the case here. Since these businesses showed up, what they have done is master their management, logistics, and coordination to ensure that their customers receive their products/services on a very large scale—in which customers buy their products or use their services worldwide. This is the magic of what I like to call smart management.
Smart management is the key ingredient to the success of any business. Without the right management, you’re doomed to failure in no time. In many cases, a good business idea fails; but usually, business owners blame it on lack of demand (or any reason other than their own bad management). You can have the best strategies set for your business, and the perfect plan to execute them, but if your management is not good enough, the result will be certain failure.
If you really think about the businesses mentioned earlier, you’ll realize that their ideas are so simple that anyone could have thought of them. That is correct, but no one can succeed without smart management like that of Uber, Facebook, Alibaba, and Airbnb. These companies have created a perfect management model that got them on the global market and kept making crazy profits due to the genius of their management methods. The same goes for any other business, as well—whether small, medium or large.
One must have the correct management method and the right people to manage it. Entrepreneurs should understand that they have to think of the best management model for their own business, and have the right people to manage it in case they are not able to figure out how to oversee it in a smart way. If we look at local or regional companies as examples, I cannot think of any business managed better than Talabat. Talabat has managed the food-ordering business so intelligently, and made it so simple for its customers to use their service, that it has gained popularity all around the region.
Traditional management systems do not work with the new generation, as their expectations and lifestyles are different from those of older generations. It is very hard to satisfy them if you do not manage your business wisely; otherwise, they could leave you and never come back. Be smart, and manage with intelligence and foresight!
