Peter Shawn Taylor discusses sales and consumer protection. He criticizes the Canadian Competition Bureau “for going after retailers for discounting too often” (Taylor, 2015). The piece was interesting. Sadly, Taylor’s arguments were unconvincing. Sales And Consumer Protection I’ll focus upon the general arguments rather than the specific cases. I cannot comment on the specific details…
Category: Public Policy
Faking Market Share
I enjoyed Peter Thiel’s Zero to One which he wrote with Blake Masters. Thiel seems more interesting than most business leaders. The book spews out ideas in a slightly haphazard, but never boring, fashion. (To be clear I’m pretty sure I disagree with him on an awful lot of issues, but still think it is…
Market Driving (And Being Just Really Good)
Some firms don’t seem to follow the market. Instead, they chart their own course. They are market driving. Who Drives The Market? The classic example of such a firm might be Apple. It looks to many that Apple is able to influence tastes in the market rather than just serve the consumers’ tastes. Whether this…
Reference Dependence In Primary Elections
Reference Dependence involves comparing outcomes to what we are focused on rather than an absolute scale. Thus higher pay after a cut may make us less happy than lower pay after a raise. Comparison to the reference, here past earnings, helps explain behavior. What then can we deduce about reference dependence in primary elections? Reference…
Competitor Orientation And The Evolution of Business Markets
My first major article was on Competitor Orientation And The Evolution of Business Markets. I think it is a fun one. Even though it took years and years to publish. Some may have agreed. it was fun That said, it is a bit mathy at times. Aiming To, Is Not Maximizing Profits When people envisage…
Natural Monopoly And The Beer Store
A natural monopoly occurs when an industry gives the best social outcome if it is run by a single firm. For instance, building two railways lines to a small town wastes resources. the two lines, therefore, don’t increase public welfare. What can we say about natural monopoly and the Beer Store? The Problem Of Monopoly…
More On Evaluating Student Evaluations
Today’s piece has more on evaluating student evaluations. Braga, Paccagnella, and Pellizari’s (2014) article is a useful contribution to the debate about student evaluations. The Challenge Of Evaluating Evaluations This research does have limitations. For example, it is based on one school. Furthermore, the very strength of the article (random assignment of students to classes)…
Primary Election Strategy
I find primary elections endlessly fascinating. Partly because the decision is so tricky. We rarely have enough information to make an ideal choice, Yet, people still develop very strong opinions. In the 2008 Democratic primary it was hard to see significant policy differences between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That didn’t stop intense arguments. What…
Misunderstanding Political Marketing
Bruce Philp’s article in the July [2014] issue of Canadian Business criticizes political marketing for being “hollow and disingenuous”. I think this is misunderstanding political marketing. Political Marketing Is Not Just Political Communications I wasn’t impressed. Firstly, I think Philp is equating political marketing with political communications. This is a strange thing for a brand strategy consultant…
Simplification, Oversimplification, And Competitive Advantage
There are many ideas to learn in strategy. It is helpful to convey them in a clear and easy-to-understand manner. Yet I have concerns about oversimplification and competitive advantage. Simplifying Competition Bruce Greenwald‘s and Judd Kahn’s book has great cases and it is easy to see why managers might find the certainty they communicate useful. They suggest simplifying…
