Microsoft And Yahoo.

So Microsoft are formally trying to acquire Yahoo. The offer document is naturally filled with details of the opportunities that they suggest this will bring. But what of the opportunities for smaller businesses?

They might feel increasingly vulnerable in the face of the creation of such a huge conglomerate. But that's only true if they don't change.

The deal would have an impact on a huge number of users of a variety of services and there will be a minority of Yahoo users who might not want to be associated with Microsoft for the simple reason that they chose Yahoo's equivalent service in the past. That minority could in actual terms be a very big number of potential customers for a third party.

If your marketplace is overshadowed by one or more large businesses, you must not assume that you can't deliver some need better than they can. Focussing on the competition is important but focussing on the customer will always trump that. All business relationships are essentially one to one after all, so playing in the shadows can be very lucrative.