Ever had a Nile Perch?

In our new Global economy everyone should know about the Nile Perch!
It's a huge freshwater fish, easy to catch and eat, and tempting to introduce into non-native waters. found interestingly enough in the Nile river basin and region.
And when it shows up? The Nile perch grows huge in size and it will eat everything it can and probably drive competitive smaller fish extinct. Good intentions are rewarded with plenty of Nile perch (for now) but a degraded ecosystem in the long run. Everyone in the South should be able to relate this with Kudzu, different product but same results.

Does that sound like anything else we hear about on a regular basis? Wal-Mart? Mega brand car dealerships? Big Box building supply stores? Grocery stores? The list is long and well known. Sometimes we all are dazzled by the short term lure of choosing from hundreds of items to buy, and very low prices to make it all seem right. But what about all of those smaller companies and the hundreds of folks, plus thousands of family members that the huge stores lead to extinction?

We seem to place plenty of value on instant gratification for the wants and desires of our lives and sometimes that is very nice, but what about the long term consequences of always having that available? Do we get fat and happy? Sloppy in our business or purchasing habits? I certainly remember just a few years ago when anyone could open a new business, not have much of a plan or capital, and become a big success in a short amount of time. The dot com empires came and went bust all relatively quickly from just that process. In the flooring and tile industry we saw many examples of companies, at all levels, who in spite of their poor decisions and seemly total lack of a marketing plan, made money and grew their businesses, but at the first sign of real competition and downturn of economy they withered and died quickly.

I suppose that the Nile Perch has it's advantages, but I certainly see many disadvantages also and it makes me wonder if the benefits outweigh the problems it creates.

Just my thoughts, what are yours?

Steve