More on Symbiosis in Business:

"A symbiotic relationship is a relationship between two entities which is mutually beneficial for the participants of the relationship. Thus there is a positive-sum gain from cooperation. This is a term commonly used in biology to explain the relationship between two entities that need each other to survive and prosper.

"The bumblebee and the flower would be an example. The bumblebee extracts the flower's pollen for protein and its nectar for energy. The bumblebee, while collecting these sources, inadvertently brushes pollen from one flower to another to ensure the flower's reproduction process begins. The bumblebee needs the flower to survive, the flower needs the bumblebee to survive. These are positive sum relationships ,,,

"One can see a symbiotic relationship between Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs. Venture Capitalists need early stage investment opportunities. These are provided by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs need investment capital to develop their ideas, these are provided by the Venture Capital community. Thus both industries benefit from each other's participation, a positive sum game."

(excerpt from definition in LearnThat.com): complete article

In the first example above (i.e., symbiosis in biological interactions), the flower is a passive participant. The bumblebee is instinctively just getting something to eat for itself and its hive, and certainly has no conscious awareness or concern regarding the benefit to the flower of its activities.

For the purposes of our "Demographics" discussion, we are focused on the symbiosis of voluntary human interactions between buyers and sellers of any commodity.

Careful study and planning to somehow indicate a high degree of symbiotic potential in its advertising is an essential key to a successful marketing strategy for any business that offers any product or service for sale to the public.

Consumers, as individuals, usually don't tend to think too much about the concept of symbiosis as they go about their task of buying whatever products or services they might want or need.

In this respect, individual consumers could be regarded as similar to the bumblebee in the example above, at least with respect to their initial contact with a potential new source of whatever product or service they're seeking at a given moment. Perhaps they're driving down the road and realize they're hungry, and see an attractive sign for a restaurant. Satisfying hunger is a high priority for humans, as with all living creatures. Consequently, humans, like bumblebees, will do what they can to satisfy their hunger as quickly and efficiently as possible.

However, unlike bumblebees and other lesser creatures driven by instinct, humans have a higher volitional capacity, or the power to exercise one's will and make conscious choices.

If a bumblebee should happen to visit a flower that doesn't have sufficient pollen or nectar to satisfy the bumblebee's hunger, the bumblebee will simply fly to the next flower. And the next. Etc. No conscious thought or judgment on an individual bumblebee's part is involved in any aspect of this process.

Such is not the case with humans.

Most humans will tend to react negatively if they should waste their time and effort visiting a business that fails to adequately meet their needs, especially if they had initially felt they had reason to believe that a particular business could do so.

At that point for most consumers, the realization of a lack of symbiosis with the business they had expected would meet their needs — but had failed to do so, for whatever reason — will turn into feelings of frustration and rage toward that business. Many will feel compelled to warn everyone they know about that horrible place, and why they're never going there again.

Bad news always travels faster than good news. And such negative reactions by even a few frustrated consumers can quickly offset any potential benefit of advertising dollars spent to convince the public that a particular business is worth visiting.

And this is especially true for disabled consumers, who may have a lot more to risk than just indigestion if they should happen to visit a restaurant, or retail business, or professional office that fails to adequately meet their needs.

That is why our Information Service endeavors to provide a high level of accurate and objective consumer information, so that individuals with disabilities can feel confident that a particular business can meet their needs before they go there.

For further discussion of this important point, you might also want to read "Why is ADA compliance not enough?", which is accessible from page 8 of our "Demographics" section.