When does your location matter?
Posted 30 July 2008 at 8:46AM by Ian Betteridge in Email and communications
Regular readers of this blog will know that we frequently bang the drum for mobile working, and especially the ability of technology to let you "work anywhere". But there are limits to this, and knowing what the limits are is crucially important for making mobile working work for you.
This is because there are times when location matters - in fact, for some businesses, location is everything. The obvious examples are shops, especially those which depend on passing traffic for their trade. But even for those working outside retail, location can be incredibly important.
To find out why, consider the case of financial services. As historian Geoffrey Jones noted in a recent interview with the Harvard Business Review, despite the increasing computerisation of finance, which means that in theory finance companies could work anywhere, "it has become more rather than less important over recent decades to be in London or New York if you want to participate."
The reasons come down to something that technology can't really replace: social factors. As Jones points out, if you want to open a cosmetics company, customers and commercial partners will take you far more seriously if you operate out of Paris or New York. Try and start up your company in the mid-west of the US, and you'll face an uphill struggle.
There are, of course, reasons for this other than just "post code prejudice". Business is a social enterprise, and being physically around the hub of your industry gives you the chance to get to know clients, competitors and customers socially.
And this social aspect of business is something that technology, no matter how good, can't replicate. So, if you're considering starting up a business, look at whether you need to be in a particular place - it might prove to be a more important decision than you think.
Tags: bt, business location, location
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