Kubota Tractors

Five of my nearest six neighbors have Kubota tractors.Kubota appreciates that. More sales means more profit.My neighbors appreciate that. Ownership results in the convenience of "tool-autonomy".Kubota is not hiding the fact it values your sale more than it values you sharing your tractor with your neighbor (a potential customer). Kubota doesn’t have to explicitly say that; it’s the logic of “good" business.But the logic of being a neighbor does not necessarily say that the convenience of tool ownership is more valuable than the relationship built through sharing tools.In other words, for Kubota, the cost of you sharing a tractor is far greater than the benefit of your neighborliness. The former is the loss of the sticker price of the tractor. The latter is effectively zero.But for people like us, the cost of sharing with a neighbor is minimal, the benefit is great.Here are two important takeaways:

1. 1. Your relationships (current or potential) should not be dictated by the logic of business profitability.
   2. The “Kubota logic” is on its way out. The new economy will not measure sharing as a (potential) loss but will learn to measure it as an asset worth investing it.