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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS238

the start-up days of Amazon.com reveal a
striking example of boundary
examination

Flexibility was the aim of Michael Dell’s strategy of providing tailor-made
personal computers from standard componentry – the levels of both
finished goods stock and of parts were held at the absolute minimum.

charge rather than be charged Pushing the question of ‘What
could I not pay for?’ still further might lead you to consider that not
paying for something could extend beyond ‘something for nothing’ to
actually being paid for that something.

Suppose you are a small film company working on low budgets – how
to avoid paying for film extras in addition to the main cast? The
production company for Following Yago, a comedy film shot in August
2004, solved the problem by advertising for investors who would each
contribute a minimum of £200 for the additional entitlement to appear
as an extra.

how about bionics? You might use bionics to consider where in
nature might the problem of limited resources for a fledgling entity have
been solved. This might lead you to consider the analogy of the cuckoo,
which might in turn prompt you to share resources with another,
complementary, start-up, for example. How can you make yourself the
dominant partner in the relationship? Can you find an organisation to
whom your value exceeds its value to you? Could you establish your
venture within a business incubator unit, taking advantage of a range of
services specifically designed to help early-stage businesses?

force-fitting for resource ideas You may wish to generate further
ideas about where you could access all the resources which you seek to
acquire for minimum outlay. These resources may include office or
warehouse space, professional endorsement, technical expertise,
customer knowledge and so on.

You could use the force-fitting technique, for example, to inform your
search for these resources. You could list all your resource requirements
against your network of contacts and consider every cell in the matrix.
The exercise may reveal useful leads which your assumptions had
previously led you to overlook. Perhaps you have assumed that a