It went bankrupt when the people there decided they were in the railroad business...Instead of the transportation business.

While they were trying to run a railroad other people were inventing way to employ trucks and planes...to move people and things.  There is nothing so critical to the performance and success of a business as the correct perception of what that business is and how it relates to the market.

Here are a few examples of what we mean: Hotels are not actually in the business of selling hotel rooms.  A hotel room has a bed, a TV, a Gideon Bible and it costs eleven dollars.The business is much more than that.  They are family resort complexes.  Multi-million dollar investments in hospitality, fine dining, assurances of quality, efficiency, genuine friendliness.  And they should be marketed as such.  Not only to the consumer, but the travel trade.

Another business might rent cars.  In an effort to move forward they could get out of the rent-a-car business and into the travel and sightseeing business.  Through a merchandising, public relations and marketing program designed to position such a company as more than a set of car keys and a rental car form, the company could became number one in its unique segment of the market.

Retailers would find that with this type of thinking they were not in the dress business, but the fashion business . . . not in the furniture business but in the home business, not in the soap business, but in the beauty business.

The Point is before you market what you are, you must know what you are.

Then, it becomes a matter of telling people what you are.  This means advertising and public relations.

Positioning your business for success will help you increase your wealth through the power of your business.

(And, by the way, it turned out that the Penn Central wasn't even in the railroad business.  They were actually in the real estate business.)

So as a business owner...it is imparative to step back and determine exactly what business you are in.  Is your business a manufacturer of a certain type of parts...or are you really in a "service" or "assembly solutions" business?  Knowing this...is the first step to redeploying your assets to address the market opportunities.  It may not be easy or immediately evident...but as you can see from the history of Penn Central, it can make all the difference in the plans you develop and put in place.