Fab Four tips for businesses

The Beatles are back. Or maybe they never really went away, but this month the group's music will be reintroduced to the grandchildren of the original fans.

For computer gamers, The Beatles: Rock Band will be released next week by Viacom with a fanfare of hoopla. Also next week, EMI Group will release digitally remastered CDs from the back catalogue. It mightn't be fully fledged Beatlemania, but it is a reminder that the Fab Four have emerged as something more than just another famous 1960s pop group.

They are, without question, the most powerful brand in the global music business - or anywhere else for that matter. Even Apple, which knows more than a little about brands itself, used the name of the Beatles' record label when the computer company was founded.

But how has a group that split up almost four decades ago managed to stay such a massive global brand for such a long time?

Sure, the Beatles were good, and that is part of the story. But their success also has lessons for other businesses, not just that it helps to wear matching suits, have plenty of shaggy hair, and a drummer whom everyone can poke fun at.

After all, if the ultimate goal of any business is to create long-term stable returns, then there are surely few better tutors in how you achieve that than the Beatles.

There are four lessons that any chief executive would be wise to ponder when running a company: Get there first; get ahead of the curve; get out in time; and always treat the product with total respect.

1. Get there first: There were plenty of pop stars before the Beatles. And there was a lot of rock 'n' roll around as well.

But they were the first band to be a huge global success, and they created the template that just about every group has followed ever since.

They defined a rock group: four young guys with different characters and lots of attitude and a distinctive way of dressing. Only one can be the first. And if you can be the person or company that creates the standard of the industry, it will be hard for any competitor to ever dislodge you.

2. Get ahead of the curve: Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of the Beatles was their capacity for rapid evolution.

Only a few short years separated the release of their first album, Please Please Me, in 1963 to their last in 1970.

And yet during that time they took in an incredible range of styles, from beat combo, to concept albums, to psychedelia. They innovated constantly and were always ready to rip up a successful formula.

They never rested on their laurels or repeated past successes. And that applies to any business because if you aren't innovating, your rivals will be.

3. Get out in time: The Beatles quit while they were ahead. They broke up while they were still making great records that would last for a long time.

The Beatles didn't try to take the concept further than it would go, they didn't try to keep working together after the chemistry had gone, and they never tried to recreate it. Getting out when you are on top is a good rule for any business.

4. Treat the product with the respect it deserves: The Beatles have always protected their intellectual property. They positioned their back catalogue as a premium product and treated it as something that could last for decades.

Even when they gave up their publishing rights, the catalogue was controlled by someone who was almost as popular as they were: Michael Jackson. If you build it to last and price it right, people pay for it.

Of course, those rules won't apply to every business. But follow them, and you won't go too far wrong - even if the road is sometimes long and winding.

- BLOOMBERG