Land acquisition or Customer acquisition : Are they similar?

While there has been a lot of buzz over methods adopted for land acquisition in India in recent times specially in Noida and Singur, a random thought actually crosses the mind: Is customer acquisition similar to land acquisition ? In first look, the concepts look poles apart, but are they really different? Let us consider how:


1. Both require convincing : In land acquisition, you need to convince the land owner to part with the land. In regard to customer acquisition, one needs to convince the customer to buy your product.


2. Both face Competition / Resistance : In case of land acquisition, the company planning to acquire the land faces resistance/ opposition from social activists/ NGOs. In a similar manner in case of customer acquisition, one faces resistance from the competition and often leads to price wars.

3. Both are susceptible to price changes : In case of both land acquisition and customer acquisition, price plays a big role: Higher the price greater the chances of a successful land acquisition, and lower the prices greater the chance of customer acquisition.

4. Both have their own share of loyalty : In case of land acquisition, there will be always be certain land owners who will be unwilling to part with their land. In case of customer acquisition as well, there will always be a significant number of core consumers of rival products in the market. The key to succeed in the long run will depend on  succeeding in these segments.

5. Both are dependent on government policies: In both cases, government and state policies determine the rules of acquiring land and marketing the product in the market !

But while considering the similarities , it brings to us another question: Are all kinds of acquisitions similar? What about acquiring a firm?