Tom Vanderbilt examines the problem of taste and categorization in his book: “You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice”. He examines the way taste matters in modern life. His focus is mostly on business. He discusses food, music, art, beer…. Vanderbilt details such things as how recommendation agents work to suggest…
Why Are Intangible Investments Different To Tangible Investments?
Haskel and Westlake’s main point in Capitalism without Capital is that the world is changing and that the predominant form of investment nowadays (investments in intangibles) is different from investment in tangible assets. Why are intangible investments different to tangible investments? The Four Ss of Intangibles The authors, in making the case for intangible investments…
Why Financial Statements Fail “Digital” Companies
The way marketing features accounting statements is pretty awful. I have noted this often. Many of the issues raised are, however, applicable outside marketing. They occur with a wide range of intangible assets. Vijay Govindarajan and his colleagues, therefore, look at the providers of accounting for “digital” companies. They ask: Why Financial Statements Fail “Digital”…
What Does Marketing Do?
What does marketing do? Many people really have little idea. Establishing what marketers do can be an important first step to a meaningful discussion. People Don’t Necessarily Understand marketing Haskel and Westlake have a great new book — Capitalism without Capital. In this they highlight a major problem that they see. The problem they note is…
Political Marketing And The Modern Age
How have election communciations been changing? What can we say about political marketing and the modern age? The US Presidential Election of 2016 With a couple of colleagues, Joseph Ryoo and Alina Nastasoiu, I wrote a chapter in a recent review of the US Presidential Elections in 2016. (We could have just published a one-word…
The (Perfect?) Mess That is US Higher Education
Want a review of the (perfect?) mess that is US higher education? The State of US Higher Educations David Labaree assesses the state of US higher education in his interesting book — A Perfect Mess. I enjoyed his take on higher ed. It seemed like he had an appreciation for the complexities of it. He…
Using The Language Of Business And Seeing Its Problems
Accounting, and finance more generally, is the language of business. This means marketers can’t get away from it. I recommend both using the language of business and seeing its problems. Engaging with Finance Language I think it is extremely valuable for people more broadly to understand the language of finance. Finance and accounting has challenges….
Avoiding Decision Traps
How can we go about avoiding decision traps? Decision Traps The book Decisions Traps is a generation old now. Still, it remains a useful book on decision making. Occasionally it veers a bit too far with its claims. For instance, it has “brilliant decision making” in the title. Yet, I can forgive that as it may…
Constructing Academic Research Questions
How academics come up with research questions is an interesting and important topic (at least to academics). Sandberg and Alvesson study the creation of Academic Research Questions. They look at how academics in organizational studies describe the way they came up with research questions . The journals reviewed were major journals: Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Management…
More On Accounting’s Failure To Deal With Intangibles
Accounting’s failure to deal with intangibles is a major problem in business. Marketers, and others, need to engage with financial accountants to find a better way. Problems in accounting statements Feng Gu and Baruch Lev give more details on the problems with financial accounting in their recent piece for the Financial Analysts Journal. They argue…
