I wouldn’t
say I’m Walmart’s biggest fan. In fact, I dread shopping there for a number of
reasons, including their reputation for supply-chain bullying and questionable
ethics in product sourcing.
Perhaps this dread is also driven by my memories of a number of 80s movies where Walmart serves as a situational protagonist, popping up along interstates and killing small-town America.
No doubt I’m not alone in my mixed feelings—mixed, because despite my disdain I also can’t help but appreciate the convenience and selection businesses like Walmart offer.
Feelings of protectionism for local business will continue to be felt in Niverville for a long time to come, due to the recent growth. Growth spurs both the need for employment as well as services.
And when a gap in the market is perceived by the business community, the so-called “invisible hand of the market” kicks in and entrepreneurs act.
Whether there’s truly a gap or a need will sometimes be uncertain.
Some people in Niverville right now are questioning the need for a new fitness centre that’s coming to town. While competition provides choice, is there a need right now for another choice? Is there enough demand for all the businesses to survive?
And ultimately, who makes that decision?
When Dairy Queen’s arrival in Niverville was announced, I suspect the owners of every restaurant in town cringed a little. And I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some impact felt by them all. I suspect the addition of our local Niverville’s Pizzeria had the same effect.
Yet no one has closed their doors. At least not yet. Perhaps the products are different enough to tap different corners of the market, or at least draw a new dollar out of the public’s collective pockets. Or perhaps the current businesses have simply had to adapt.
So who controls which businesses are allowed to open and operate?
Local government, to some extent, ensures conformity through zoning and other by-laws… but other than the true Marxists among us, almost nobody wants an overbearing government to interfere in our free market system. Government is there to set the stage, not to run the show.
On the other side of the equation, the Chamber of Commerce is the business association whose mandate is to support both the existing and new businesses in our communities.
So where does the control lie? Well, control is placed entirely within the market itself.
As scary as this may sound, consider the two parts of the marketplace—the businesses themselves and the consumers.
Let’s talk about the businesses first. Ultimately, it’s the prerogative of anyone to start a reasonable and lawful business within the parameters of a community’s laws. But if the market cannot support the business, it will fail. Entrepreneurs will typically take this risk into account and not enter a market that cannot produce a profit.
It is a utopian ideal to believe that only new businesses that don’t already exist will come to our communities. In some cases, competitors will enter the market because they believe they have a better product than an existing business. The existing business must then analyze, change, and adapt—or face the consequences.
But the market also consists of consumers, and they are the driving force.
Ultimately it is up to us, as purchasers, to determine the success (or failure) of a business. We have the ability to determine which businesses stay and which go.
We can vote with our wallets, based on our priorities. Our priorities could be low prices, better customer service, or business ethics. A person could have any number of priorities to take into account.
My priorities likely aren’t the same as yours; as such, we may “vote” differently with our wallets. This often has more to do with personal philosophy than anything else.
But I would suggest that our purchasing decisions have a much larger impact than our social media posts. We can rage online as much as we want, but for wrong or right, good or bad, our support is only as good as the dollars and cents we spend.
