From: alexboko@umich.edu
Date: Fri Mar 21 2003 - 10:54:26 MST
From: "Alex Future Bokov" <alexboko@umich.edu>
X-Mailer: YaBB
Okay, I've got it. A company operating in some war-torn hellhole region.
Assets:
An airfield stocked with the most effective aircraft and munitions their
budget will allow. The key is the ability to absolutely outgun any local
warlords. In fact, that would determine the geographical extent of the first
'service region'.
A website, sales brochures, etc. containing detailed maps of the service
region, with coordinates.
Revenue Stream:
Without prejudice, any individual is allowed order an airstrike on any
set of coordinates (except the airfield itself, duh!). The cost of an
airstrike reflects the actual expenses incurred in launching it plus whatever
profit margin the market will bear. Since it's likely that even a light
airstrike will be far beyond the budget of any but the richest citizens,
the company will maintain an "Airstrike Fund" for every possible set of
coordinates in the service area. Once the fund for a given set of coordinates
surpasses the price for a particular type of airstrike, that airstrike is
launched. There are separate funds for different categories of airstrike,
and a fund that will automatically empty out into the airstrike fund that's
closest to its set-point. There is also an anti-airstrike fund which is used
to raise the bar on the airstrike funds that it specifies. Finally, there is
MAD-insurance. It's an arrangement that if coordinates of your choosing are
subjected to an airstrike, an amount of money you pre-specify is automatically
transferred into the airstrike fund or funds of your choosing. This means that
areas with an economic value will be better defended than areas whose value is
purely tactical... fortresses don't pay for themselves; factories do.
Everyone wins, not just the company offering this service:
The most violent players in the region spend the most money, and make the
most enemies, and effectively make it impossible for themselves to rely on
any large, permanent structures. True, perpetrators of violence can choose
not to do business with the most effective violence-management agent in the
region, but then there's the fear that their competitors will do business
and have that advantage. The common people still have means of defending
themselves, by chipping into airstrike funds and/or anti-airstrike funds
and/or MAD-insurance. Furthermore, loss of human life will decrease, since
the status of airstrike funds for all coordinates will be public knowledge,
and freely available in a convenient graphical form at all locations where
airstrike fund deposits are accepted.
Exit Strategy:
Peace is expected to eventually break out in the region, if only because
customers who spend more on warfare than on constructive activities will
inevitably go bankrupt. A new franchise is opened in some other wartorn region
(helped by news coverage and word-of-mouth regarding the company's previous
successes), and most of the military assets are transferred there. The
long-term loan, consulting, and construction branch of the company comes in
to help rebuild the region. Company policy stipulates that company assets and
personnel absolutely may not ever be bombed.
Obstacles/Challenges:
Misguided public outrage is expected on 'moral' grounds, particularly in the
West, particularly from people who have not read the full business plan. PR
and educational efforts may help ameliorate this.
Certain nations whose state-run violence management agencies depend on
protectionist measures are likely to see their business threatened. The key is
to locate the first franchises carefully, in regions with a lot of potential
customers, yet of little interest to the major state-run violence-management
monopolies. Also, these agencies and the states sponsoring them could be
brought on-board as external customers, vendors, and investors.
After several years of operation, competitors and imitators will undoubtedly
spring up. The potential market is quite large, and can accomodate these
newcomers. Indeed, they may even drive public acceptance and awareness of this
product. The main risk to avert is economic competition turning military. The
answer is through interlocking non-aggression pacts protecting the assets
of all companies from each other, along with an agreement to honour the
anti-airstrike funds of each others' clients.
The main problem is that of initial investement because this idea's bold
nature and the manu uncertainties involved in modern warfare. Perhaps the
first step would be a feasibility study done with market simulations, along
with efforts to publicise the idea.
This business plan is free for the taking to anybody crazy enough to do so.
;-)
---- This message was posted by Alex Future Bokov to the Extropians 2003 board on ExI BBS. <http://www.extropy.org/bbs/index.php?board=67;action=display;threadid=55243>
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