A Memetic Business Model
Would it be possible to create a company that does nothing, promises nothing, but gets your money for nothing in return? Does a set of ideas or memes exist which, when associated with this company, make you want to give money to the company without expecting anything in return?
P.S: Camwhores don’t qualify. At the very least you’ll expect tits.
Isn’t this essantially what ‘famous’ brands do? Say some clothing brand that sells expensive clothes. The quality is often very close to that of much cheaper brands, but they might charge the double. And people pay the extra money for the status of ‘look, I have clothes from an expensive brand’. That extra money promises nothing but the assumed peer approval of other people. The company itself can’t and doesn’t promise this. Sounds a bit memeish. Thoughts?
Any non-functional government?
Some would say that the utility of branded goods can be higher because it would help You to gain better social status, leave better first impression or just to get laid.
All these possibilities are often encoded into advertising as well, so in a way they “promise You something”.
Wouldn’t zero-output charity schemes classify? Those campaigns that sell rubber bands but all the sales end up in managers’ pockets? “Help thy neighbour!” would bet the meme here.
Or racket on monopolized market (when the only one to burn down Your business would be the same who sells You protection).
Spending money on hedge funds looks pretty promising to me, as it has the same effect as playing roulette only that croupier doesn’t charge you obnoxious amounts of money. And they don’t produce anything nor promise you.
@Jolle:
You still need a product which to brand. You’re essentially selling a product with some added, perceived value, but the receiver will be expecting some kinda product to go along with the brand.
You’ll also be expecting some kinda social boost from having products with a well-known brand. So those are two expectations.
@sander:
Heh, good idea. I think a person would be expecting something for his/her tax money. So the expectation still exists.
@Kristjan:
Rubber band charities almost qualify. You’ll still be expecting some product for your money, even if it’s useless crap.
Racket on a monopolized market fits my definition, yes. Good one, that. There is still some (potential) exchange going on. You’ll have to make your threats a reality if they don’t pay, lest nobody take you seriously in the future.
beggars usually don’t do anything but sit and look at you. it qualifies as “not doing anything”, yet you give money and get nothing in return. don’t even start on the “sitting is an activity” thing, because when a firm is created is exists and that could be counted as an activity. and for the “pleasure of giving” - again it is not long lasting, you forget it and it’s not possible to imagine someone giving away money without any feeling, be it remorse or happiness or anger (unless you want to go deep into philosophical arguements and I don’t)
Beggars certainly qualify. How can we turn that into a business model?
well, you asked if it’s possible to make a company and have it not do anything, yet get money in return without people expecting anything. beggars qualify therefore you have to register the beggar as a self-employed entrepreneur or form a company out of many beggars who just sit on the sidewalk and beg, but pay the income tax. different variations are allowed, well-dressed individual who mingles with the crowd in a multimillionaires-suaree and casually asks for donations for some cause (and packs away $10,000 checks or so) is also a beggar, only… higher class.
just thoughts
Could we turn it into a web-based business?
As far as I can judge there are no human interactions that are not based on some form of reciprocity or at least the expectation of it.
Thus I strongly doubt that a company earning in return for nothing could exist.
However, if the intention is to minimize efforts and maximize outputs there are certainly ways.
How could you find such?
I would start by thinking:
1) what are the underlying principle of human interaction?
2) what are the factors of successful interactions (i.e. in u case: longlasting and unilaterlly beneficial for the company)?
> 1)
A) Humans perceive differently.
B) Humans communicate differently.
C) Humans evaluate attentiveness differently (important!).
D) Humans expect different degrees of attentiveness in return for certain actions / behavior.
Now let’s name company comp. and the customers C1…cn.
What would your company wonna do?
> A) make the customers evaluate the services of the company highly for him (i.e. a lot of actions / products of a smaller value for customer or fewer highly evaluated ones).
–> I would recommend to head for services, not products with highly condensated “value”. (i.e. brands, beggar giving good conscience, religious indulgence…
–> make the value of the service higher if the customer is spreading the word about it.
> B) choose a very clear, omnivalid message for huge amounts of people, or a very specific one if you have access to a certain target group
–> addressing basic emotions of humans (numerous examples available throughout history…
> C) …
> D) …
Ok, I gotta leave it like this now, wicked thread
On a gut level I suggest you: Move to the US and become a Jesus singer - just as Cartman does in Christan Rock… Cheers!
So if you want to create a company where you have