Many of the hundreds of thousands of business ventures launched by entrepreneurs each year fail

to take off. Others fizzle out after spectacular rocket launches. Though the fundamental concept
of a successful business is based on having customers and retaining them for future, I believe
that other dynamics of an institutions plays a crucial for a business to be truly sustain in the long
term. Customer-centric approach is believed to be the core of success in any business. When
customers are truly delighted by the product or solution, the business should supposedly take a
smooth upward trend. However, in marketing we have this consumer “black box” in terms of
purchasing decision that can not be just coined into this belief. Often, we have seen millennials
purchase products and services though they did not have any need for it. Increased purchasing
power and purchase intention impacts individuals in a unique way that is yet to be defined.

From one perspective, we could look at giant companies that started with a vision rather than
customers. Amazon, Microsoft are two giants in that started working without having any
customers. These types of companies follow a visionary approach where individuals gradually
realize a need and then become customer in future. Just bringing a solution to a problem can only
do so much for a company in the long run. It can be successful, it can grow high, but it must
always think outside of the box to bring in more impact into the society. Since we cannot assure
that all our problems are realized, companies should not be self-satisfied with having a specific
customer base as well.

Another aspect to my disagreement to this statement is the market and institutional dynamics.
Market trends are always dynamically changing, and the changes are not always predictable.
Companies must have institutional dynamics that adheres to this unpredictable outcome that
happens so very often. We are currently living this most impactful scenario at this moment.
Pandemic has changed how traditional businesses are marketed and executed. Companies with
non-essential products has suffered a huge blow because of the safety initiative of nations. For
example, Shampoo, a non-essential daily consumption product had its customer base but the
need for it decreased drastically as people had to close the doors for unspecified times. Hence,
companies like Unilever started providing stock of this product category with other essentials
that has seen rise in consumer purchase basket. If Unilever didn’t have the flexibility to adopt to
certain changes the company would have to suffer a bigger margin previous year. Another
example of adoption to uncertain time comes from the initiatives of bKash. The mobile financial
service giant took steps to immediate and converted the pandemic into their opportunity.
Cashless transaction doubled and even tripled during the pandemic. So, finally I believe that the
statement has its undeniable truth portion as it focuses on the solution of customer. But this
should not be the only concern for a visionary company because it traps the ultimate potential of
an organization.