Whenever I hear someone say “rational” I worry. Everyone means a different thing. This is a problem as obviously you can’t discuss rationality without knowing what it is. Bryan Caplan uses his view of rationality to criticize democracy in The Myth of the Rational Voter (Caplan 2007). The book left me with mixed feelings. I love…
Paranoia Doesn’t Make Sense
The most infuriating articles are written by otherwise impressive scholars. One such article is Roderick Kramer’s When Paranoia Makes Sense. Written in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks and the Enron debacle it may have resonated at the time. Still, it is irredeemably flawed and socially malignant. Kramer should have known better. Paranoia Doesn’t Make…
Marketers Prefer Contribution
A couple of years ago teaching introductory marketing I told my students they must have calculations in the final exam. They listened and gave me numbers. My students were mostly aim for investment banking. They thought finance had the “best” numbers and so used these. They gave me some marvellous numbers, e.g., EBITDA and NOPAT….
Friedman’s Ethical Joker
In 1970 Milton Friedman produced perhaps the most influential popular article by an economist, The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits. Admittedly 43 years late is not the snappiest comeback. (I wrote this in 2013). Still Friedman’s argument has flaws. Many have already tackled major weaknesses. Here I will concentrate on a…
How Bad Metrics Help
In this post, I will examine how bad metrics help. Something doesn’t have to be perfect to be useful. Often the act of creating a metric, even a bad metric, creates debate/conversations which highlight what we do, or do not, know. Two Scenarios Consider the following scenarios: A) The plan was unveiled in the meeting….
Does Acquisition Cost Reduce CLV? No
Marketing suffers from serious definitional problems which undermine the communication function of metrics. For example, Does Acquisition Cost Reduce CLV? I therefore recommend a step forward; lets all exclude acquisition costs from customer lifetime value (CLV) calculations. CLV Is The Net Present Value Of A Customer Relationship Customer lifetime value is the net present value…
Selfishness and Rationality
People often imply that selfishness is central to rational decision making. Yet this is wrong by any meaningful definition of rationality. Selfishness and rationality are not inextricably intertwined. Defining Rationality Definitions matter in the real world. Managers can believe they commit a business sin by considering others — they are being irrational by not being…
Market Share is Malarkey
Students, teachers, managers, and commentators all love market share. Many think a reasonable business goal is to increase market share. My only question is: Why? To use a Joe Biden word, Market Share is Malarkey. [This was written in 2012, but Joe Biden phrases still work now in 2021]. Market Share Is Not The Same…
What Is Marketing?
Many issues in management seem to cause confusion. The first I see as a business school professor is the simple question “What is marketing?” This can be surprisingly difficult. (Interestingly if you look the discipline seems to have changed quite a lot since the early days). What Is Marketing Not? Let’s get rid of some…
