8.6 Business Orientations and planetary economic zones
With some degree of overstatement, we can assign the four Business Orientations to the world’s main economic zones and conclude that Europe would be a candidate for the Expert Orientation. One reason is how businesses are financed: European economies rely less on the Stock Market’s Self-Services than those in the United States, and instead often use Expert–client arrangements between banks and companies. For example, bank credit accounts for 83% of corporate capital in Germany, compared to just 27% in the United States. If we consider the planet Earth a Client, then Europe can be seen as an Expert, since it focuses on solutions for the planet’s well-being more than any other region. Indeed, the countries with the best environmental policies are all in Europe.
The United States is the leading representative of the Self-Service Orientation. Most Self-Service business models originate there. For instance, the first supermarket in the world opened in 1912 in California, whereas the first European supermarket appeared only in 1951 in Switzerland. The Internet—another major Self-Service phenomenon—also took off in the United States, and Americans continue to develop many of today’s new Self-Service–oriented internet systems, online businesses, and communication or information platforms. Stock exchanges are among the most prominent Self-Services, and the world’s largest ones, with truly global reach, are located in the United States.
Asia is the world’s largest producer of a vast range of products. It manufactures its own brands, serves as the biggest licensed producer of products invented in Europe and the United States, and is also the largest maker of forged products. All of these factors contribute to Asia’s image as the global representative of the Product Orientation.
Commodities, of course, are mined and grown worldwide, but certain regions contribute mainly by supplying essential commodities and raw materials.
This broad sketch of how Business Orientations are distributed around the globe can change; no one can predict what it will look like in the centuries to come.