Economics for everyone (episode ten)
By John F. Sase, Ph.D.
Gerard J. Senick, senior editor
Julie G. Sase, copyeditor
William A. Gross, researcher
"Why don't we sing this song all together / Open our heads, let the pictures come / And if we close all our eyes together / Then we will see where we all come from"
-Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Sing This All Together," Their Satanic Majesties Request (Decca/London, 1967)
During the past nine episodes of this series, we have laid down some basic tracts of Economics for everyone. We have considered 1) fundamental fulfillment of our needs and wants, 2) the management of scarce resources, 3) the division of them into human and non-human categories, and 4) the delineation of both categories into Factors of Production. In addition, we combined Monetary and Fiscal policy as carried out by the Federal Reserve Bank System and the U.S. Congress, respectively.
In our last episode, we addressed the application of economic essentials that every small business or professional practice needs. We delineated the responsibilities of a small group into those of Production, Transportation, Properties, Marketing, and Management and generally discuss the sub-functions in each area. In this episode we explore the dynamics of small firms and businesses.
If large corporations form the base of our economy, then small firms are the foundation of it. We recognize a Sustainable Economy with Sufficient Affluence as imperative for the practice of law, especially in those firms that serve the local community. Also, we expect that this topic will carry importance for many of our readers within the field of Law. In order to facilitate the regrowth of the city, Detroiters cannot expect a handout from the top down. Their sustainable recovery must come from the ground up; small businesses and professional practices hold the keys.
Traditionally, large businesses start small and then grow. The leadership ranks of large corporations have fed upon a diet of executives who grew up as part of small family businesses. Throughout history, real innovation in the form of ideas, technology, and products have emerged from the basements and garages of America. Apple, Disney, Google, and Mattel represent but four of many major companies that share such humble beginnings. Also, Metro-area law firms such as Miller Canfield, Honigman Miller, Clark Hill, and others started small and grew to national and international prominence.
In this and the following episode, we will address applied economic essentials that every small business or professional practice needs. Therefore, we turn to musical groups as our general example. Many of us understand the similarity between law practices and blues, rock, jazz, and classical groups. Hopefully, as proverbial "flies on the wall," we will avoid potentially awkward discussions concerning billboards, telephone-book covers, television commercials, and intra-office relationships by using musical groups rather than law firms or similar professional practices as our arms-length examples. Any similarities between musicians and attorneys-living or dead-are purely coincidental.
Since the explosion of digital recording and the Internet, the music industry generally has returned to the realm of smaller groups. Furthermore, the economics and business realities of a string ensemble, jazz combo, or rock band essentially remain the same, both for one another and for similar small-group businesses-including law firms. Due to the attractiveness that music and musicians hold for most of society as well as the transparency of their business operations, the following examples work well for our comprehensive case study.
One, Two, Three, Four, Five
To begin, let us discuss size. As with many other things in life, size does matter from an economic perspective. Though a twelve-piece ensemble and its resulting sound may open a few eyes and ears, such largesse often proves less than optimal in the economic sense. Therefore, we turn our concentration to smaller groups, including acts of two to five members, common configurations for musical entities as well as for law firms and accounting and consulting practices.
We refer to some musicians, such as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Justin Timberlake, and Rhianna as "solopreneurs;" others, such as Simon and Garfunkel and the Black Keys, work best as duos. Groups like Crosby, Stills, and Nash started as a trio before adding Neil Young into the mix. Many of us remember the Beatles as a quartet, though several writers cite musician/producer Sir George Martin as the fifth Beatle (apologies to Murray the K). The Rolling Stones steadily have performed as a quintet throughout the decades. Nevertheless, Mick Jagger, a former student at, and an Honorary Fellow of, the (Fabian Socialist) London School of Economics, takes center stage. Economic observers note that the Stones long have been a production company of two dozen.
We find similar parallels in classical, jazz, and other genres of music. In jazz, the trios of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Wes Montgomery, and Keith Jarrett stand out, along with others. Many aficionados remember Benny Goodman, Gerry Mulligan, and the Modern Jazz Quartet among four-person groups. Miles Davis headed a couple of quintets that have included other great artists, such as Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea, to name but a few.
For those in our readership who prefer traditional music, we note that composers of the Classical, Baroque, Romantic, and Modern periods often get lumped together as Classical musicians. Frequently, such composers wrote for trios, quartets, and quintets. For example, many enthusiasts consider the works for trios composed by Johann Georg Albrechtberger, Arnold Schoenberg, and Karlheinz Stockhausen as outstanding examples of this form. Also, the quartets of Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig von Beethoven, and Antonin Dvorak and the quintets of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Peter Schubert, and Georges Bizet, have stood the test of time.
Depending upon audience preferences and the underlying economics, even larger groups have sustained over time. Heavily subsidized orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, continue to survive. Larger jazz ensembles that flourished during the Big Band Era still perform as “ghost bands” of late greats such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Glenn Miller. Even larger rock groups such as Blood, Sweat, and Tears, the Fugs, and Chicago either have come and gone, have remained on the fringe of existence, or have continued to survive to the benefit of their audiences.
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