Self-proclaimed “business experts” are demonizing Wal-Mart and badgering local government to pass zoning laws or other regulations to “protect” threatened businesses from competition. That sounds an awful lot like Fascism, and is certainly a far cry from the laissez-faire competition that built this country.

The assimilation of any innovation into the market follows the S-curve. The S-curve process (innovation, growth, shakeout and maturity) means most businesses fall victim to what Joseph Schumpter termed “creative destruction.” No business is immune. I was selling computers at the very beginning of the computer market S-curve. What happened was predictable; computers became a commodity like automobiles and telephones, which means either businesses must continually adapt or they will perish.

Wal-Mart has figured out how to make money on “commodities” — those common, everyday items at the top of the curve. Back in the ‘60s when Nikita Khrushchev visited this country he didn’t ask to visit a mom and pop corner grocery; he wanted to visit a supermarket and Disneyland. Why? Because that’s what American capitalism produces — BIG.

The Vince Gill song holds the clue for most small businesses: look for “The Next Big Thing” and exploit it. When it becomes a commodity and a “big box” like Wal-Mart sells it for less, it’s time to look for “the next big thing.” Or eke out a niche and provide products and service in a way the big-box stores don’t.

That’s what capitalism is all about.

Lee Swoboda
Belfair