A good business doesn't fail no matter the situation of the economy

[Cold_Joker]

I love your narration of a the building blocks of a good business, I still believe the major foundation that keeps a good business is Individual or producer strategy. Let's take for instance people selling provision store or foodstuff business, even pure water business,  those are good businesses that are required daily by individuals. But I have seen most cases where it was closed down abruptly because of inability to manage the current economic situation. Living or feeding off the gains of any business kills it fast, the economy not withstanding. Most business are like plants that should be watered right and regularly, check for areas that need rebranding,upgrading or anything that makes it worth buying and also staying updated with economic changes to avoid selling off ones goods lower than the cost price and this contributes to more output and less or no input in business

[Leahized]

A good business man understands how to run his business and maintain it even when the economy is bad. Switching from one demand to another based on people needs is done by the businessman with good business orientation because he will always be in the game for long as he's not just tied to selling one specific type of product. Even in a bad economy some business are flourishing because they know what the people want.

It is certain that, an experienced and prudent person can quickly transform and improve a business. But there are very few businesses that are able to sell from one product to another. For example: you have a shoe store. You are not able to transfer to another business in a crisis situation. Because the main driving force of a business is the financial condition.

If you are ever able to find a way to keep a business afloat even in a recessionary economy, then you will see competitors increase. Because other business people will continue to imitate you. This will not make you feel very comfortable, and you may even face some financial risks.

[IjawMan]

What makes a good business last long is not tied solely to the business management alone but it entangles with the business environment in which the business is situated and operates from.

When you the op proclaim in your title that "A good business doesn't fail no matter the situation of the economy ." Did you consider economic melt down periods, conflict zones assuming the business strong demand zones are the red zones in the conflicts and then bad government economic policies and political instabilities can be dangerous.

They are all capable of killing a good business.

[Su-asa]

To be honest, I actually agree with your whole point, but just to be clear here, you can't succeed without good management, and no matter what service you provide to society, your business might still collapse if you don't run it properly. So what's more important in a business is how you manage it financially and the strategy you are using.

Every business is a good one and it just depend on who is handling it to make it a good business or a bad one. Even the business you claim to be good business if the personal who is handling it doesn't understand it, it will definitely turn out to be a a bad business.  

The environment you start your business also matters; someone who strtus up a profitable business in a better environment might succeed, but if you start the same business in a local environment, you might not be profitable. So, from my perspective, no business is bad as long as it's a legal business, what matters is the environment and the management.

[serjent05]

I think the success and sustainability of the business is dependent on who manage it.  The business alone cannot work out perfectly without people behind it.  I bet many of us here witness a good business go bankrupt because the people behind it are incompetent.

So, in reaction to the title of @OP, I do not agree that a good business alone doesn't fail no matter the situation of the economy, it does not fail regardless of the situation of the economy because there are talented people behind running it.

[Mrbluntzy]

I like the analogy you used to describe what a good business stands for but you don't expect everyone to do the same business, I understand that most business that serves daily human needs might not shut down during a tough economy, even though they might also face some challenges. However, the knowledge, idea, and passion that someone have for a business will always be different for another individual. Mr BY might have passion and knowledge of doing a toy business while Mrs ZY could also have knowledge of doing cosmetics business, both are good business but different demand at different point in time, I mean, it's usually during Christmas and Halloween that parents buy a lot of toys for kids and a good toy seller would know when is their best season, so that's when they will also be more active and as such, they won't still fail in their business no matter the economy condition.

[Alpha Marine]

Your analogy about the house and the weather is bullshit because, in reality, it does not clearly show a similarity to doing business.
No matter what kind of business you do, you can still be affected by the economy and the political crisis. Petrol is something that people cannot survive without, but during the peak of the war, some people went out of business. There are people who did other kinds of essential businesses that were struggling during that period too.
A business can fail for many reasons. It does not necessarily mean it was not a good business.
Businesses like fashion stores can even survive more than your "essential needs" business.
A bad economy kills businesses. In fact, a bad economy kills everything.

[Ever-young]

Here is why a good business doesn't break down when the economy isn't Good.

1)They sell things people cannot live without.
When the economy is bad, people stop buying things that isn't necessary, like toys, fancy clothes, shoes or even bags. But they will still need to buy water, foods, medicine or soaps. I have done soap business before and it is a very profitable business to start. People don't talk much about it. The secret: A good business sells things people need every single day, no matter what.

2)A good business saves money for rainy days. This is taken out from your profit and you save it separately in a place where you wouldn't touch it no matter what happens. So that when times are bad you wouldn't struggle to restocked your business.

A good business doesn’t fall despite the economy i agree. But these reasons doesn’t sit well with me .
Selling things that that people can’t do without doesn’t make your business a  good one. Some businesses fail not because they lack customers. The sales may be very massive but still end up crashing, Ive seen business not once nor twice.

The entrepreneur has a major role to play and I can say that the probability of success and failure are all dependent on that individual.

Your second point still doesn’t sit well. A business doesn’t save money, an entrepreneur does. Even the businesses that failed made profit, it’s all about how the profit is utilized.
Writing this long epistle without acknowledging an entrepreneur makes it incomplete because these are traits an entrepreneur should possess before a business can even stand.

Be it regular needs of the people or once in awhile need, as long good managerial skills are present, the probability of success is always high.

[9ja Amaka]

A business that doesn't fail no matter the state of the economy is a business that people consume on a regular basis and also a business that has millions in funding. Take, for example, a shopping mall. A shopping mall doesn't run out of business when the economy is facing challenges. The shopping mall rather have more branches in different areas, printing money for the owners. The shopping mall is the place where people buy groceries, electronics, and a lot of household appliances and food. That kind of business doesn't suffer from an economic shift.

[ColdLava40]

A good business stays safe because it is useful, smart with it's savings, flexible and trusted by the people.

How do we identify a good business from a bad one?

I think using the term successful business would be better, don't you think so? A successful business is one that has been planned out properly, with appropriate consideration of every aspect that could affect it on a long term.

This should also include future risk of conditions that might affect the success of the business. Every business experience setbacks, but how they choose to manage their setbacks will determine their future outcomes.

There will always be change in economic status of the country, but a good business shouldn't be affected financially by such. They just need to adjust to the current conditions and still try to offer same service to customers without making their customers uncomfortable.

[Jasmyne]

What about the recent flood that swept away a whole community in china? do you think the business strategy that people running business in such place had was enough to save them. there are failures that can be corrected and some others that can not be corrected or dealt with. as a business person, you can only plan on the one you can control and not the one you can not control.

The op is not aware that some natural disasters can distablize the plan of a business person thereby leaving the business owners with nothing because they will run to save their lives because thinking about their business. A good strategy helps to safeguard a business but not in situations where one neither planned for no has control of that's exactly what happened with the flood affected communities.

They never expected the flood to happen to them same thing with the people that got affected by the flood in some part of Nigeria my country they may have planned for fire outbreak and other disasters but flood is not what people plan for unless they have witnessed it so many times.

[uneng]

Well, I consider fast food, MC Donalds, Burger King to be good businesses, but they won't succeed in every economies. Wealthy brands and industries are good businesses, but very specific to determined niches of first world countries. If you try to start businesses which focus in quality, but in poor areas, you will fail, because there won't be potential customers there. At same time, it doesn't mean such businesses are bad.

[Wiwo]

Sometimes, with all those you mentioned as the key factor that keeps a business running, we still have other things that can make a business fail no matter what. Sometimes you see big businesses running onto bankruptcy, do you know the reason, is because of unforeseen situations that drag them to such unexpected failure despite they have good plans to escape such rainy days.

For this reason we can't say that, there os no business that can not fail, yeah is good to plan and prepare for future market reality, but then we can only prepare when the situation happens; we can't escape the result.

[Davidvictorson]

I want us to think of a business like a house, and the economy like the weather.

When there is a heavy and massive rain, strong wind and cold weather,  the weak house made of only wood or cupboards collapses, but a strong house made up of bricks will stand firm.

Here is why a good business doesn't break down when the economy isn't Good.

1)They sell things people cannot live without.
When the economy is bad, people stop buying things that isn't necessary, like toys, fancy clothes, shoes or even bags. But they will still need to buy water, foods, medicine or soaps. I have done soap business before and it is a very profitable business to start. People don't talk much about it. The secret: A good business sells things people need every single day, no matter what.

2)A good business saves money for rainy days. This is taken out from your profit and you save it separately in a place where you wouldn't touch it no matter what happens. So that when times are bad you wouldn't struggle to restocked your business.

3)They know how to change quickly.
If a store sells red shoes, but suddenly people only have little money to buy socks, a bad business man will start yelling and complaining, instead of switching to the demand of the people. A good business says okay since everyone needs a socks, I will go and even get an affordable one. They adapt quickly instead of complaining or giving up.

4)A good business doesn't just build relationships, but they build trust. For example if you have two friends and one is always being too tricky, greedy or corny, while the other is always sincere, truthful and honest, who will you stick close to more? Even when the money is tight and the economy is bad, customers will still spend their few coins at the store that treated them fairly and kindly.

LASTLY: A bad economy doesn't kill a business, it just teste it, weak and unstructured business fails because they weren't prepared. A good business stays safe because it is useful, smart with it's savings, flexible and trusted by the people.

If you’ve read good to great and great by choice by Jim Collins, you would understand that most of these principles applies to all businesses. However the one I would kickback on is the point that they sell things people cannot live without. It is not always the case. They can also sell things that people cannot live without live without but they would so good at it that people can’t ignore them. That’s what gives them a competitive advantage and makes them a great business.

[Felicity_Tide]

Afaik, almost all opinions are valid when it comes to making possible suggestions on how to make something work. But where the problem lies is that reality most times doesn't dance to those beats. You said, "a good business sells what people needs everyday", but does that necessarily mean that selling items that aren't been used daily is automatically a sign of bad business?.

And I think it's unfair to say that bad economy doesn't kill a business. I don't think a person who runs a business would say this. We've seen companies increase the price of their items/products and sometimes reduce the quality/services, just to survive hardship of a collapsing economy. When there's a collapsing economy, it's difficult for companies themselves to make their customers a priority at the expense of what they've built over the years.

[mirakal]

From my own perspective, even a good business can still fail if there are sudden changes in the market, or if the business fail to execute and stay competitive with the rest of the competitors. Rather than saying that a good business isn't prone to failure, but I guess all types of business will mostly experience failure before it can be seen as a good and competitive one because it has recover from the different flaws faced in the market competition.

[Obulis]

2)A good business saves money for rainy days. This is taken out from your profit and you save it separately in a place where you wouldn't touch it no matter what happens. So that when times are bad you wouldn't struggle to restocked your business.

One mistake mostly small business owners do make handling every profit made as their own personal money. Call it back up funds or whatever, for a business to stand the test of the economy and the test of time, the business owner should be able to handle their business as an artificial person who needs care and attention. A like the business owner will eat, drink water, bath and so on, the business needs care and attention and making this savings is part of the care and attention.

[Samlucky O]

Don't be decieved, good business do fail, regardless of how you think it doesn't. No matter how some business may guarantee solidity, it doesn't still mean that economy can't affect it. What If flood like that which happens in Nepal recently which pooled houses down, is it not a disaster? Just pray that natural disaster don't happen otherwise no business is strong enough not to expirience fall. I am not insinuating that your explanation is wrong here, but you have to also have a broader thinking as well. Though I agree with most of your explanation but just want you to know that there is no business that is above economic situation, because when real event happens you will understand that no business is save when it comes to natural disaster.

[Vod]

A bad economy doesn't kill a business, it just teste it, weak and unstructured business fails because they weren't prepared. A good business stays safe because it is useful, smart with it's savings, flexible and trusted by the people.

Any business that needs to pick up and deliver things will go out of business when there is no diesel due to the economy.  Grocery stores, medical clinics, restaurants, retail giants ALL will die without diesel.  

Actually, I challenge you to name a single business that will not fail if diesel shifts to the black market.

[Marykeller]

Having a business that deals with what people can live without is a good business to start with that can survive in whatever economy. But that doesn't end there, because the owner of the business has a role to play in the success of their business. His or her attitude alone can bring down a business that everyone thinks will flourish.

I am sure those who their business stopped weren't because they sold what people can't live without. The majority sold such but due to character, selling on credits, high price, selling fake products, etc made customers to stop buying from them and they had end their business at loss