Commerce can be understood through the lens of the subject-predicate concept. The entity predicates. The essential predication can be described by two sets of activities: 1) They create satisfaction and 2) They offer satisfaction.
I use the word “create” to suggest any activity that results in a product. I use the word product to encompass any form of value offered via a hard good or a service. I use the word offer to describe the special activity of communicating the potential satisfaction or value.
The average CEO underestimates the import of this secondary type of predication. A business that does not offer will not remain a business. Indeed, a business that does not offer is not a business — an intentional contradiction. This leads to two operative words: “offer” and “satisfaction.”
I could use the word “value” instead of the word “satisfaction,” but I am transcending value with a customer focus. Value that does not satisfy is meaningless. One may argue that it is not even value. It was value in the mind of the business, but it is not value in the mind of the customer. If it is not value in the mind of the customer, we do not have a customer. Thus, we do not have value. Therefore, we do not have a business.
