7 BUSINESS ORIENTATIONS – IN MANAGEMENT
7.1 One Business Orientation = one business = one management
It is doubtful that a single business unit could successfully and equally pursue all 4 Business Orientations. Certainly there are cases when one business simultaneously makes products, provides individual solutions, resells foreign goods and rents space and human capacities – but nobody, both inside and outside the company, knows what the priority is. Everything that seems to bring in money is tried. Such a business will hardly be the best in the world in any of its activities.
The main reason why it is difficult to pursue several Business Orientations evenly is that each orientation requires quite a specific social culture, mental inclinations and business processes. Psychological motivations also differ. An Expert likes to find the best individual solution for each of his clients; Product makers with a pioneering spirit like to push the limits of the known when they launch new products; Self-Service organizers like to come up with the best choice and accessibility and Commodity suppliers try to make the most of the market situation.
Mixing several Business Orientations together can create unpredictable whirlpools rather than steady streams.
However, a business can successfully pursue multiple Business Orientations if it operates as a holding structure with subordinate business units, each with its own orientation and management.