That would depend on how you define a business. Not sure how that's relevant to this discussion in any case.
I missed RC’s input today, but I feel drawn to this quote. RC isn’t dearly beloved Elaine is she? I’ve made many complaints and asked serious questions - including directly to HR in ‘disciplinary’ meetings as to what QF’s ‘Mission Statement’ might be. And this is because I have yet to meet anyone with a successful business who cannot say this in one, single sentence. Basic stuff, you know the theme, Apple ‘Think Different’, Audi ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ McDonalds ‘Best Family Restaurant’ that type of thing.
The best I got from my meetings and discussions on this point was from the secretary of a Manager hauling me in for berating the latest total waste of expenditure - and it was this: ‘Well, I think it’s too hard to say what QF does in one sentence because I think it means a great many different things to many different people’. I laughed in her face and said I really didn’t think she could have said anything better to prove exactly what I was pointing out the failings of Qantas to be.
In hind sight, I am now in awe of RC’s genius response above. ‘That would depend on how you define a business. Not sure how that's relevant to this discussion in any case.’ That is straight Catch - 22. And Catch - 22 is one hell of a Catch!
Maybe Elaine is a reincarnated Milo Minderbinder? Yossarians simple Catch - 22 is a tadge too simple for a tricky Pikey.
Being a simple man, I’ve never understood Milo Minderbinder’s brilliant plan, but this is lifted from someone of better brain:
This is where his cunning little tactics come into play. For instance, he buys eggs from Malta for 7 cents per egg and sells them to the mess hall for 5 cents per egg. Outwardly, this seems stupid. His business is at loss. But no, he earns a significant amount of profit. How?
Here is the answer. This egg business actually involves three places- Sicily, Malta and the mess hall in Pianosa. Sicily is a place where there are plenty of poultry farms and eggs are quite cheap. Milo buys eggs from Sicily at 1 cent apiece. Now Malta is a place where there are no poultry farms and there is quite a demand for eggs. Milo sells the eggs to the local traders in Malta for 4 and a half cents apiece. Then again, he offers to buy them back from the traders at 7 cents apiece, which they readily accept. The people in the mess hall know that he buys eggs from Malta at 7 cents apiece but they are unaware of his prior transactions. They are more than happy to buy the eggs at 5 cents apiece. In the end, Milo spends 1 cent in Sicily and 7 cents in Malta, totalling 8 cents. And he earns 4 and a half cents in Malta and 5 cents in the mess hall, totalling 9 and a half cents. The net profit he gets is one and a half cents for every egg he sells.
He uses similar tactics for his other businesses. And that's how his syndicate works.