Want a Recession Proof Job?

Look no further than the Gong Industry. It seems a little ridiculous but according to an article in the Wall Street Journal gong seller Andrew Borakove has discovered that his gong business (of selling absolutely nothing but gongs and gong accessories) is a recession proof industry. During upswings in the economy salesmen were Borakove's main buyers. These salesmen would have their customers ring a gong after buying  a big purchase to make them feel more excited about buying something they probably couldn't afford. During a recession many people turned to meditation for all of their stress and yoga instructors started pouring in orders. Even the supposed end of the world looming has his gong business flourishing because Borakove sells gongs that are tuned to the same frequency as minor planets.

Using Porter's 5 forces to analyse the global gong industry it is easy to see why Borakove is so successful.

Barriers to Entry: I honestly think the biggest barrier to entry is thinking of starting a gong business in the first place. Others include cost of a warehouse, initial investment in gongs, and a high ranking gong website. Overall these are not high cost barriers. The one that would be most difficult would be getting your website ranked as high as Borakove's.

Supplier Power: It seems like there are many options for people to get the supplies they need to run a gong business with the exception of gong bags that seems to be sold in China. Thus supplier power is not going to drive up the cost of the gong industry.

Substitutes: If a customer wants a gong, I cannot think of any other musical instrument that would be a viable substitute, so there are really no threats from substitutes.

Buyer Power: The customers who purchase gongs are usually one time buyers and are not an organized group so they don't have much in the way of power that would drive down the price of gongs.

Rivalry: While many music stores also sell gongs there are not many gong specialists, so Borakove has a pretty good market share of the gong realm and would most likely keep that market share even if someone else decided to also specialize in gongs because of his high rank in search engines.

Wall Street Journal Article:
 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577181151324644504.html?mod=ITP_AHED