Something special that deters competitors - a strong brand name, patents, great service. An idea that should attract customers for a long time. In other words, no hula-hoop manufacturers. A reasonable, though not necessarily rock-bottom, price. I think so.
Biggest problems remain political.
Travel, credit cards, finance - all excellent businesses for the century ahead. The best of the for-profit education companies, Apollo owns University of Phoenix for students already in the workforce. Online business is growing fast. ADP, which does such outsourcing chores as payrolls and tax filings, has for the past four decades been increasing profits annually at 10 percent or more. Berkshire's main business is insurance, but it has holdings in newspapers, jewelry and building materials, plus large chunks of companies like Coca-Cola.