Cargo Cult Business

I was talking to my brother last night and the term "Cargo Cult" came up. I
don't know why. But it sure rang a bell with me. I haven't heard this term
for thirty years. During WWII the US military sent Seabees into the South
Pacific to build wharves and airstrips to receive ships and planes. Natives
of the area saw this activity and then saw the ships and airplanes arrived
and concluded, incorrectly, that the building of the airstrips and wharves
caused the arrival of the ships and planes. So they set out to build their
own airstrips in hope of attracting aircraft with cargo.

Wikipedia has a good short description:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult

Richard Feynman (famous physicist) has a commencement address on the
subject: http://www.physics.brocku.ca/etc/cargo_cult_science.html

This guy has some interesting things to say about Cargo Cults and business
http://www.coolth.com/cargo.htm

Some people want to make a Cargo Cult business, i.e. they want to make a
business by setting up all the trappings of a business without any
understanding of why that business works. Some businesses, like retail, you
might be able to do that. I don't think you can do that with a business like
ours.