Dr. Joseph Werner
Imperial University
Imperial University
Table of Contents
1. Methodology
2. Key Findings
3. What Can I do to Be Successful?
A. Military
B. Slave Trade
C. Time
4. The Top 10 Corporations
Lyran Arms. VLT. CuppaCoffee. These global corporations, these brands, seem omnipresent in the global economy. Many of them are rarely found outside of the first few listings on the Global Economics and Trade index, while others have grown slowly over to the years into the titans they are today. These massive corporations are so large that the 92 largest threads, with large repeats combined, make up nearly a quarter of all of all of the posts on the index.
But who exactly are these giants, both past and present? What brought them to their lofty heights? Certainly, the quality of their products, presentation, and customer service played a key role. But perhaps their demographics played a role as well. Are some kinds of storefronts simply more inclined to succeed?
What Makes a Successful Storefront?
A Statistical Study
A Statistical Study
METHODOLOGY
To begin with, a threshold was needed for defining success. For the purpose of this survey, the cutoff was set at 10 pages of replies. This number was selected for several reasons. The 102 threads that have reached this mark represent less than one percent of the total threads listed on the forum, meaning that they have achieved an unusually high level of success, but still provide a fairly large sample. Secondly, a thread typically takes a fairly lengthy amount of time to reach this mark, evidenced by the fact that not a single one created in 2013 has yet achieved it. Finally, the number 10 is a significant number in base ten mathematics, making it recognizable and familiar to most individuals.
Four variables were recorded by hand for all 102 of the threads: the industry, the year of founding, the number of replies, and whether or not the thread was active. The industry was chosen so that threads could be compared by sector, to see if that held a significant correlation with success1. The year of founding was chosen so that the data could be compared across different years; it was suspected that some industries may have gained success in a certain era that would have failed in another. The number of replies was chosen so that it could be determined if the actual business done by the most successful corporations in a particular industry differed in any significant way from that industries overall proportion in the data set. Finally, activity was measured, defined as having a post in the month prior to data collection on March 11, 2013. This was done so that it could be determined if certain sectors were more likely to remain successful to the present day.
Once the data was collected, threads that were simply separate parts of the same corporation were combined to show a more accurate picture of the top companies 2. Other threads that were part of the same brand were also combined. The data was then entered into an excel spreadsheet where it could be sorted, analyzed, and graphed.
1The industries used can be found here: viewtopic.php?p=13208521#categories
2For example, see these threads: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10732, viewtopic.php?f=6&t=100682, viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1113
KEY FINDINGS
By contrast, many industries are wildly different. The second most successful industry, proportionally, is the civilian transportation manufacture industry. Names such as VLT, Forza, and Los Rios propel the sector from sixth in the entire subforum to second, a change from 5.7% to 12%. Another notable standout is the slave trade, which comes in third with a whopping 10% of the most successful threads. The industry makes up a mere 2.7% of the subforum overall.
Other industries are greatly underrepresented. Product pages, for example, which make up 6.5% of the total forum are unsurprisingly virtually absent from the upper echelons of the forum. The ubiquitous civilian travel industry, which includes such common threads as airlines and airports, finds its proportion of the top crust cut in half, from 8.8% of the total threads to 4% of the top 92.
Another notable finding is that only a third of the most successful storefronts in the forum's history are actually active. 33.7% of the top 92 storefronts have seen a post in the past month, while the rest sink further into the annals of history. This seems to suggest that success does not last forever. While some closures are simply due to the owners tiring out from the constant work of managing a successful business, or the nation itself collapsing, others have simply failed to remain active with the changing times.
3 viewtopic.php?f=6&t=228222
WHAT CAN I DO TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL?
Besides creating a quality corporation, marketing it well, and hoping for the best, there appear to be some notable correlations between demographics and success.
The Military Industrial Complex is... Actually Fairly Safe at the Top
While Dr. Fritz Berhn's findings on the overall proportion of military hardware threads in Global Economics and Trade indicated a rapid decline, this has not been so apparent among the most successful firms4. While there was decline for the first two years, it did was not as drastic as in the overall population. Indeed, while 2009-2010 saw the greatest decline, from 43.3% of the 2009 threads in the study being military hardware to 35.3% in 2010, the decline slowed dramatically the following year, dropping to 33.3%, while the population sank to 30.7%. The next year, it actually reversed, resulting in 38.5% of 2012's entries on the list coming from the military hardware sector.
This suggests that there was some sort of disconnect that happened in 2012 which allowed military hardware storefronts to become successful, while at the same time facing less competition amongst each other. Further research is necessary to determine just what that is, or if it is simply a statistical anomaly, but it does seem that creating a quality military hardware storefront may have a correlation with success.
4 viewtopic.php?p=13208521#military
1. Become a Slaver... 2. Build a Time Machine... 3. ????... 4. PROFIT!!!
One of the most fascinating statistical oddities is the slave trade industry. The sector absolutely exploded in the early years of the subforum, with two entries making the top 92 from 2009 and a whopping six hailing from 2010. In that year, slave trade storefronts made up 17.6% of the most successful storefronts, and the bump is even noticeable in the overall population, as the slave trade came in at 4.3% of storefronts in 2010; a full percentage point above any other year5.
Then it all went up in flames. Not one of the slave trade storefronts that became so successful during this time period remains active, and only a single outlier, a slave trade that opened its doors in 2012, continues to represent the industry at the top today.
This is likely due to one thing. It is often thrown around that 2010 was the 'golden age' for slavers throughout on all fronts, with slaving conflicts becoming big news, and anti-slavery alliances coming to the forefront. Perhaps the end of this golden age also spelled the doom of the great slave traders.
5 viewtopic.php?p=13208521#year
Wait For It...
Obviously, there is a correlation between the length of time on the forum and the success of a storefront. It likely takes time to build up orders and name recognition, as well as a sizable volume of posts. Furthermore, the quality of a storefront tends to improve over time, bringing in more customers.
While maintaining a storefront for an extended time interval does not guarantee success, it can likely play a major role.
SO JUST WHAT ARE THE TOP CORPORATIONS?
By combining the posts of the top corporations, the largest can be roughly determined.
To the surprise of some, it is actually Alleswerken Group of Yohannes that comes out on top, thanks in large part to its recent merging of several of the largest Yohannesian corporations, such as VMK, Royal Beaufort, and the Yohannesische Börse, some of which were considered separate storefronts for the purpose of the rest of this study, though not for the purpose of determining the largest corporations.
Lyran Arms comes in second, offering up the largest single-focus brand, as well as the single largest thread in Global Economics and Trade.
The venerable VLT Automotive comes in third when the various iterations of its main storefront are combined.
Rounding out he top ten are LG Defense Systems, the Yohannesische Bundesbank, Haruspex International Armaments, Anemonian State Armaments, Karlsburg Industries, the Spartan Philidelphia Almost Anything Corporation, and Jailpuren Defense Industries.
For the full data set, see here
This is amazing! Thank you!
Bound to happen with manual data entry 
