Description
There are several challenges that small businesses face everyday when taking on the business world by themselves. Lack of resources, time and funds are but the beginning of the long road of tests and tribulations that a small business must pass through before attaining stable state. They risk getting outspent, out marketed, outthought by larger companies with potentially unlimited resources at their disposal. However, our communities and economies cannot sustain themselves without these small businesses. The small businesses that grow and flourish over time provide economic stability for owners and their families. The solution presented in this thesis proposes a network of small businesses (SOUP) that enables businesses to deliver their product or service leveraging the combined resources of other small businesses and in the process reusing information, finding new ways of working together and propelling their performance as a unified team of small businesses. SOUP was defined through multiple iterations of interviews with SMBs. Based on feedback provided by the interviewed SMBs, the design was updated to solve real issues faced by SMBs.. SOUP is designed using time-tested strategies used by nature and leverages principles of flow to set up an environment of optimal performance for small businesses. SOUP’s internal algorithm learns the preferences of members over time and helps these businesses build their own custom supply chains by recommending other small businesses to partner with. As members of this network establish trust-based relationships with other small businesses, and share knowledge and services, they create a more resilient business model together to survive in the market place against hostile forces.