If you like your angst with lashings of the phrase neoliberalism John Smyth’s book, The Toxic University, is for you. The title with its references to Zombie and Rock Stars is fun. Unfortunately, you get the impression that the title is where the fun ends. Smyth makes a number of criticisms of universities and many…
American Higher Education’s Uncertain Future
Moving to the US I thought I should get up to date with US higher education. Daniel Johnson’s book, on American Higher Education’s Uncertain Future, is a critique of where we are. I was expecting criticism of government funding levels, lack of appreciation of the benefits of academic thought, and maybe students themselves. It isn’t…
Zombie Statistics & Other Advice on Dealing with Nonsense
A second post on Bergstrom and West’s enjoyable book, Calling Bullshit. They tackle the problems we face with the amount of nonsense around in the information age. The book contains much useful advice on spotting problems in black boxes and avoiding zombie statistics. You Can Spot Nonsense Even In Black Boxes I liked their advice…
Some Advice on Calling BS
There are lots of reasons to like Bergstrom and West’s book Calling Bullshit. There is just so much BS available to anyone who wants to consume it. Calling BS is a skill we all need. Calling BS BS can pose a threat to democracy if people choose their leaders based upon things that just aren’t…
Stockpiling in Loyalty Programs
For several reasons I have spent a lot of time in the last few months thinking about loyalty points. There is one puzzle that has been noted by a number of scholars and practitioners. People often keep hold of their loyalty points; not using them when they could have used them to save money. A…
What Can The Marketing-Finance Interface Tell Us About Witchcraft Trials?
Edeling, Srinivasan, and Hanssens have a useful new review paper on the Marketing-Finance Interface. The Value Of Review Papers Review papers, such as this, play a vital role in helping frame the field. They give Ph.D. students a way to get up to speed on prior contributions. Review papers also give more seasoned academics a…
Finding The Right Marketing Metrics
It is extremely challenging to get marketing metrics pieces published at top marketing journals. Indeed, a piece on finding the right marketing metrics isn’t a typical article. One challenge is that often journals want something “new”. Investigating what managers do doesn’t seem new enough. This is a real shame. I worry editorial decisions encourage the…
Non-GAAP Disclosures and Implications for Marketing
An interesting phenomenon has emerged over recent years in financial accounting which could prove relevant to marketing. This is non-GAAP reporting by companies. What is, could be, the relatonshp between marketing and Non-GAAP disclosures. GAAP: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles The rules of external financial reporting, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, are known as GAAP. Non-GAAP reporting…
Marketing Metrics and the Value of Sponsorship
Message from September 2020 ***The new version of Marketing Metrics is out this month. Please rush out and buy your copies. Please leave us a review at Amazon or wherever you bought your copy.*** This post looked at changes for the 4th edition of Marketing Metrics. Specifically new sections on sponsorship metrics. Changes For The…
Capturing Budget with Excess Share of Voice
Now for a metric not yet in our Marketing Metrics book. I’m hoping that writing this means reading this blog post plus buying our book will give you every metric you could ever need. The metric I’m looking at here is excess share of voice. Excess Share Of Voice Today’s metric is Excess Share of…
