Business Opportunities in 27 Countries

Day 656, 23:21 • Published in Greece USA • by United Underdog

My previously published articles "Job Opportunities in Allied Countries" and "Job Opportunities in Neutral Countries" were a build-up to this third article, to conclude the trilogy, which covers Business Opportunities in Allied and Neutral Countries. Quite a mouthful... basically, it's about putting your money to work to make more money. Alternatively, it's about providing jobs and goods to allied or neutral countries without running into the red at the same time. It assumes a good grasp of business basics in eRepublik and goes beyond them with charts that will show you possible investment opportunities based on data gathered over the last 48 hours.

Method... skip if you don't care

Please do skip ahead to the good stuff, but of course, I wouldn't mind if you scratched my back first with a vote or even a subscription...



This was by far the most challenging of the three articles to write, and I had to make some simplifications and even some assumptions. The first and possibly most drastic simplification that I made was to pre-determine the quantity of each skill of worker used based on the type of company; if it were a Quality 1 or 2 company, I used all or mostly skill 1 to 3 workers; but if it were a Quality 3 or higher company, I used all or mostly skill 4 to 6 workers. I assumed a perfect quota of 10 or 20 workers, as appropriate, and I assumed them all to be at 95 wellness on average; except for skill 3, at an average of 90; skill 2, at an average of 80; and skill 1, at an average of 45.

Some other assumptions include the idea that raw materials and houses are sold purely on the global market at (roughly) the lowest global bid. The raw materials prices used for this week's article are 0.0069 gold per Grain, 0.009 gold per Oil, 0.0095 gold per Wood, 0.011 gold per Diamonds, and 0.011 gold per Iron. Housing prices on the marketplace have enjoyed a bump recently and the article reflects that with prices of 3.5 gold for Q1, 8 gold for Q2, 15.5 gold for Q3, 25 gold for Q4, and 38 gold for Q5. By way of contrast, Manufacture products are assumed to have both a global market and local markets, so I have indicated both where the cheapest Manufacture labor can be found (for a black market or export strategy) as well as given charts for the more complex question of filling the local low bid price with local labor.

One issue that might be addressed in a future edition is the comparison of premiums on high Quality Food and Weapons versus their Import taxes. The higher Quality Manufacture companies rely, to a greater extent than any other kind of company, on export licenses to increase revenues and profits. Another issue, related to this one, is that the graphs assume that the market consumes all the products of the company just about as fast as they are made. If they are not, black market sales or exportation will need to make up the difference; in that case, it becomes important to be able to make a profit at the global low bid price.

The data on wages were gathered on day 655 of the New World, and the data on market prices were gathered on day 656 of the New World, so that consideration may be added as yet another caveat. The biggest caveat, however, is that the market may change radically, even in the near future or before the 40 or more days have elapsed that it typically takes for a business to make profits equal to its creation cost.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252303266510/home/piecharts/dilbert20061111-doubtingdata.JPG[/img]

The Google spreadsheets (four of them) used to create the graphs are linked from the images.

Land Companies

If a Q1 Land company has an efficiency of 100%, then a Q2 (40 gold to start) has an efficiency of 180%, a Q3 (90 gold to start) that of 240%, a Q4 (190 gold to start) that of 280%, and a Q5 (390 gold to start) that of 300%. Although there are good times to start a Q4 land company (particularly when you have very high skill workers that can help recoup the additional starting costs faster), I will consider here only the Q2 and Q3.

The Q2 land company will be said to have 5 skill 2 workers and 5 skill 3 workers (at 80 and 90 average wellness, respectively). Sales will be said to have been made at the global low bid price mentioned already: 0.011 for Diamonds and Iron, 0.0095 for Wood, 0.009 for Oil, and 0.0069 for Grain (if sale prices are higher, that means more profit).

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298369324/home/piecharts/q2_land_profit_and_wages_in_gold_per_day.JPG[/img]

The Q3 land company will be said to have 5 skill 4 workers, 3 skill 5 workers, and 2 skill 6 workers and, again, sales will be said to have been made at the global low bid prices mentioned.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298422770/home/piecharts/q3_land_profits_and_wages_in_gold_per_day.JPG[/img]

Q1 Manufacture Companies

The Manufacture products that will be considered are Q1 Gifts, Moving Tickets, and Weapons as well as Q3 or higher Food and Weapons. Food at lower qualities is generally overproduced and overcompetitive, while Weapons at Q2 are not especially more profitable than Q1 Weapons, a staple of any nation, but carry higher startup costs.

Of the three Q1 Manufacture products, the most profitable at the global low bid price is Weapons. It is fortunate, then, that they are also the easiest to sell on the black market.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298268086/home/piecharts/q1_weapons_at_0_12_gold_per_weapon.JPG[/img]

And here are the profits and wages for Q1 weapons companies using local labor and selling at the local low bid price. As in all the Q1 manufacture companies, it is assumed that the staff consists of 5 skill 2 workers (at 80 average wellness) and 5 skill 3 workers (at 90 average wellness).

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298291677/home/piecharts/q1_weapons_profit_and_wages_at_local_low_bid.JPG[/img]

The next chart is for gifts, a product with steady consumption relative to Weapons and Moving Tickets.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298179990/home/piecharts/q1_gifts_profit_and_wages_at_local_low_bid.JPG[/img]

And the last one is for Moving Tickets.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298240769/home/piecharts/q1_moving_tickets_profit_and_wages_at_local_low_bid.JPG[/img]

Q3+ Manufacture Companies

The first graph will present the wages paid in gold by a Manufacture company employing 5 skill 4 workers, 3 skill 5, and 2 skill 6 based on the job market data already stated. This is as a guide for those who are interested primarily in black market or export sales (lower wages are better).

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298155429/home/piecharts/manufacture_wages_for_5_skill_4%2C_3_skill_5%2C_2_skill_6_in_gold_per_day.JPG[/img]

This is for Q3 Food; where not listed on the market, it was assigned a 0.07 gold value. In all the graphs for higher quality Manfuacture goods, keep in mind that the top end is largely illusory; while they may remain good markets for selling your goods, they won't remain as good.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298392209/home/piecharts/q3_food_profit_and_wages_at_local_low_bid.JPG[/img]

This is for Q4 Food; where not listed on the market, it was assigned a 0.1 gold value.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298483551/home/piecharts/q4_food_profit_and_wages_at_local_low_bid.JPG[/img]

This is for Q5 Food; where not listed on the market, it was assigned a 0.24 gold value.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298641746/home/piecharts/q5_food_profit_and_wages_at_local_low_bid.JPG[/img]

This is for Q3 Weapons; where not listed on the market, it was assigned a 0.5 gold value.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298450987/home/piecharts/q3_weapons_profit_and_wages_at_local_low_bid.JPG[/img]

This is for Q4 Weapons; where not listed on the market, it was assigned a 0.75 gold value.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298613421/home/piecharts/q4_weapons_profit_and_wages_at_local_low_bid.JPG[/img]

This is for Q5 Weapons; where not listed on the market, it was assigned a 1.1 gold value.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298693677/home/piecharts/q5_weapons_profits_and_wages_at_local_low_bid.JPG[/img]

House Construction Companies

Although there are many markets in which it is possible to sell houses for more than the listed prices, especially Q1 and Q2, it is also true that houses are, more than any product, subject to the exchange of a global market. It was thought more honest to use prices that are just about the lowest in the market for all countries; usually a price sandwiched between the second and third offers from the bottom.

The Q1 Houses company was assumed to have 5 skill 1 workers, 8 skill 2 workers, and 7 skill 3 workers at an average of 45, 80, and 90 wellness respectively.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298213638/home/piecharts/q1_houses_profit_and_wages_at_3_5_gold_per.JPG[/img]

The Q2 Houses company was assumed to have a distribution of staff identical to that of the Q1 Houses company.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298328794/home/piecharts/q2_houses_co_profit_and_wages_at_8_gold_per.JPG[/img]

The Q3 Houses company was assumed to have 4 skill 2 workers, 4 skill 3 workers, 6 skill 4 workers, 3 skill 5 workers, and 3 skill 6 workers.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298555883/home/piecharts/q3_houses.JPG[/img]

The Q4 Houses company was assumed to have a distribution of staff identical to that of the Q3 Houses company.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298583334/home/piecharts/q4_houses.JPG[/img]

The Q5 Houses company was assigned 5 skill 3 workers, 5 skill 4 workers, 5 skill 5 workers, and 5 skill 6 workers to reflect the fact that it should, of all companies building Houses, seek the most highly skilled staff.

[img]http://sites.google.com/site/elmerfuddguns/_/rsrc/1252298663823/home/piecharts/q5_houses.JPG[/img]

Summary: What Business Is For Me?

You may have noticed that the opportunities for very profitable ventures in the land industries are limited. This is necessarily the case because of two factors, the first being that the global marketplace for raw materials is a cutthroat one, and the second being that land workers themselves frequently fail to be self-interested enough to work in countries with valuable raw materials (Iron and Diamonds; to a lesser extent, Wood and Oil) for reasons that depend on the individual but, for the most part, stem from pride of being in their home country. This creates intense competition for Land workers in countries with those High resource regions.

Of Manufacture and Housing, the latter is currently very easy to make money in, at the higher quality levels (Q3 and higher). Your customers will literally come to you and buy in your country's market, if your offer is near the top of the list on sites such as ereptools.net for checking market prices (the site that helped create this article).

However, at the same time, higher-quality Food and Weapons present some of the most lucrative situations of "arbitrage" opportunity: using an export license or even placing yourself in a relatively uncompetitive market in order to benefit from high prices (especially good for Food, for which most people don't bother to look beyond the local market). If you can afford the 390 gold cost of creating a Q5 company, Q5 weapons will always be in-demand (in times of conflict) and profitable.

For those who are starting out and can't afford the 90 Gold startup costs of a Q3 company, my recommendation is to look at the Q1 Manufacture opportunities in Weapons, Gifts, and Moving Tickets. These are typically highly competitive but, armed with the information in this article, you can get yours off to a good start with above-average profit margins. These are the only types of companies that are very consistently profitable at Q1 and, thus, make good opportunities for the beginner entrepreneur. Food and Houses are usually too crowded and at thin margins at Q1, and Land companies should be upgraded to Q2, Q3, or higher as a must.



This concludes the three-part series this week:

- Job Opportunities in Allied Countries (Canada)
- Job Opportunities in Neutral Countries (Australia)
- Business Opportunities in 27 Countries (this article - in Greece)

Subscribe, vote, and be sure to join me again in another two weeks for the next edition of the opportunities report. This is Buck Roger wishing you the very best in all your dealings and hoping you can make yourself a little richer while contributing to the economic growth of these countries.



Click that pic (a Romanian made the image generator), or see the current eRep in Maps (new for Sept 7 - Conflict Con Queso!), for something else cool in today's press.