

Ask HN: Business Model Hall of Fame - techiferous

I'd like to learn good business strategies by example.  Can anyone shore some outstanding historical examples of good business models (Ford? Rockefeller?)  What did they do well?  Are there any resources for good business model patterns, kind of like software design patterns?
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jakarta
Rockfeller saw the benefits of consolidation. At the time, he witnessed the
oil business (refineries) being terribly unprofitable. They often went
bankrupt and failed. But he figured out that by reducing competition through
consolidation, he would be able to gain market share and expand margins. One
of the ways he did this was by cutting a deal with the railroad companies,
that way his oil could be transported at costs lower than the competition.

Other interesting things he did - Horizontal integration: buying up refineries
in every state Vertical integration: acquiring pipelines, home delivery
systems, etc Free: in some cases Rockefeller gave away things for free or
below cost. In China they had never used kerosene lamps, so Rockefeller gave
away the lamps for free in order to get the Chinese to start using them and
eventually buy Standard Oil's kerosene -He also would undercut competitors in
the refinery biz (sometimes below cost) in order to drive them out of business
and force them to sell their refineries to him.

How is any of this useful?

Some people argue that Bill Gates is an iteration of Rockefeller's monopolist
approach to business. By creating standards (Windows as the go to OS for PCs)
he would be able to get consumers to use MSFT's related products - Office,
Internet Explorer, etc.

There is a great book called Titan by Ron Chernow where you can read an
excellent account of how Rockefeller rose from being a lowly accountant to
founding and operating Standard Oil.

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thaumaturgy
The excellent book by Guy Kawasaki, "Rules for Revolutionaries", has examples
from lots of industries over various periods of time.

I'm confused by what you mean about "business models", here. I doubt that you
could say that Henry Ford had a "business model" when he went into business;
what he had was a mechanical knack, and the idea that cars should be
manufactured the way that guns were at the time. That turned out to be a great
idea -- and one that pretty much all automotive manufacturers today have
completely forgotten -- but I would hesitate to call it a "business model".

Business _strategies_ , however, are pretty damn useful, and Guy Kawasaki's
book is about nothing but. It was the first book I read, years ago, that
turned me on to the idea of having a business.

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techiferous
Yes, I mean business _strategies_. Thank you.

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known
I think <http://isbn.nu/aisbn/auletta%20ken> books provide insights to 800
pound gorilla businesses

