Community in Business

John Rousseau in his work describes a community as a collection of individuals with a shared interest. Individuals are individuals outside any specific community but within any, individuals can be members of many communities. Communities can enter into engagements with others and it is assumed the community can not alienate a portion of itself or submit to another community that violates the act by which it exists. It is the continuation of communities as effective representation of their members, that the service exists.

Target Markets

We see this definition of community provide support for many areas of business. The definition of Target markets includes an outline of groups by a specific interest. Social media and technology companies are on the frontier of this marketing function with excessive collection of information from individual’s devices to create profiles with the primary use for effective adds. Businesses identify target markets by interest, demographics and other relevant information. In the age of big data, customer information collection is the lead force in understanding interests and the communities they create.

Riches in Niches

Many product focused businesses have found success on Shark Tank. Entreprenuers constantly tell the stories of how a single interest brought them inspiration to make the leap into a new role and explore a business opportunity. Although the Sharks criticize negotiations from businesses centered around one product; the successes from understanding community at a niche level are enough to break through the barriers of entry. Research and development studies tend to show that specification will be the need for future innovations and solutions.

Professionals

The same approach for communities around an interest occurs in the professional fields such as Marketing or Accounting. Accounting systems begin with identification of information users. The main categories of accounting system users include Executives, managers, employees, investors, creditors, government, and customers. Then the informational needs come to definition, the accounting system initiates, accountants record economic data and create reports specific for the user. Outside of business; professionals often focus on an interest to the larger professional community as evident in the sciences.

Significance

Whether it be stakeholders in the finance or accounting side, labor unions, human resource departments, target markets and professionals; Rosseau’s description of community still shows utility in navigation of todays market challenges. Be a productive member of your communities. Understand that if someone is not part of your community, it does not make them evil. Not everyone wants to go to your party, especially if you do not invite them. The broader goal should be, to make it easier for others to be part of our community without imposition or expectation for them to.