The key to profitability is to recognize what businesses are and do from the perspective of the whole economy. Businesses formulate strategies to position themselves with respect to each other and thereby earn profits. So the economic context matters, because it is within the economy that you run your business. 
In the startup phase, the entrepreneur tries to find and populate a “gap” that allows the business to become profitable. But the same is true for the existing business, which must continue to consider its positioning to stay profitable.

Profitability Is To Meet The Future

To stay profitable over time, look beyond your customer and consider your contribution to the value of the final product. Even if your customer does not recognize it, you should meet the opportunity and innovate to offer your customer an upper hand.
If you make your customers thrive, your business thrives. The key is to think about the consumer whether or not you serve them directly.

Staying Profitable Over Time

The key to profitability is to imagine how you are contributing to making consumers better off.
In our advanced economy, with two-thirds of all spending being business-to-business (B2B), your customer may not be the consumer. But the consumer is the user of the final product and therefore the one that determines its value. The consumer, therefore, determines also the value of all contributions in the supply chain, albeit indirectly.

The Consumer Is King

Looking at the example of Uber, which upended the taxi services a few years ago, your business is not safe even if you are already making nice profits and the future looks bright.
After all, even protected monopolies eventually get disrupted. What you need is to make sure you can stay profitable in the years and decades to come.

Disruption Is Inevitable

Profits are rewards for a job well-done. But to maintain profitability, your sight must be set to facilitate future value. After all, the line of production that you’re considering today will not be instantaneously available to your customers. 
The value they get from the goods and services you set out to produce will without exception happen in the future. In other words, profits indicate you did something right. But profitability is a matter of meeting the future.

Staying Afloat And Thriving

For lasting profitability, entrepreneurs should focus on contributing to consumer value. This applies to business-to-business too. 

Staying Afloat And Thriving

How to Maintain Profitability in a Changing Market

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