Marketers, and business people more broadly, often use accounting profit to measure success. This isn’t too surprising. Often firms claim to be profit maximizing. Report something as profit and this sounds like something that should be maximized. That said, profits using in accounting and managerial decision-making are not really the same thing. Decisions taken to…
Category: Decision Making
Defining Concepts
When examining any phenomenon you must properly define what you are examining. A good example of the problems that arise when not defining concepts is “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg. Great Stories Firstly, let me say that I enjoyed the book. The author packed it with fascinating stories. The book is well written….
Managers and Academics
I think one the great rifts between managers and academics in marketing has been caused by NPS. To be fair there is blame on all sides. Asking Questions As researchers and teachers we have a responsibility to advance the practice of marketing. This isn’t just about teaching technical skills. Knowing how to discount a cash…
Academics And Managers
The application of research is a big topic in marketing and academics and managers would be well served by acting together more. Is Useful Important? We debate whether we are useful or relevant. And then we debate whether we should care about whether we are useful or relevant. I think of myself as an academic…
Storytelling: Not An Insult. But You Need Cogent Stories
Critics often label evolutionary psychology “just so stories”– fanciful storytelling. This has become a popular criticism. “Just so stories” is a fantastic phrase. It is so evocative and damning. Serious scholars even use it to justify not reading evolutionary psychology. The critics sometimes have a point. I agree that some research relies on dubious arguments….
Big Questions
One of my favorite popular science books is Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel. Some didn’t appreciate it as much yet it does a fantastic job of asking big questions. These are the questions most worth asking. The Importance Of Geography Guns, Germs, and Steel is packed with fascinating details, has a great tempo, and…
Regression to the Mean
Daniel Kahneman likes to explain an epiphany he had teaching decision-making. (The story is so good you realize you’ll never come up with as perfect an illustration, but then comparing yourself to a Nobel prize winner is never good for the ego). Kahneman was instructing the Israeli Air Force. He announced that rewarding good performance…
Inequality And Efficiency
What do we know about inequality and efficiency? Inequality And Efficiency Is there an equality-efficiency trade-off? Is greater inequality just the price we pay for more efficiency? Economic theory has proven, one hears, that any but cosmetic modifications of capitalism in the direction of equality and democratic control will exact a heavy toll of reduced…
A Reason To Be Cheerful
This post from 2013 is a hopeful one about declining overt bias found in polling. While we have had reasons to worry in the intervening years I still stand by the idea that declining overt bias is a good thing. We may not be perfect. I think this is pretty obvious to all, but, at…
Nostalgia
Nostalgia is a major problem for human beings. No, things weren’t better when you were a kid. You just didn’t notice the problems. The Better Angels of Our Nature If the past is a foreign country, it is a shockingly violent one. It is easy to forget just how dangerous life used to be, how deeply brutality…
