Competition in the Digital Age
Prairie Home Companion begins with a mischievous maxim that all children in Lake Wobegon are above average. The equivalent adage in Silicon Valley goes like this: Every insider acts like an outsider. This adage reflects mythology as well as savvy public relations. The largest technology firms possess names recognized in most households, and they perceive …
When an established firm aspires to experiment in a radical direction, management gurus recommend opening a skunk works—an organizational home for high-priority original thinking and projects. It is housed away from the organization’s main operations, sometimes in secret or with organizational barriers. Typically the projects involve something of value to the future but are not …
While someone’s bargaining position can be shaped by competition, we economists know that there is a big gray area in our ability to predict negotiated prices. Competitive options for buyers and sellers can define a limit beyond which they will not go, but there is still a range of prices that fall within those limits. …
Continue reading "The last two digits of a price can signal your desperation to sell"
The integrity of sales rankings matters. It’s pretty well documented that bestseller rankings have direct effects on sales. In a world awash in titles, it’s hard to figure out what to read, so rationally lazy people rely on bestseller lists to learn what to read. Until recently, the Amazon top 100 was a meaningful ranking …
Continue reading "Is Kindle Unlimited Distorting Amazon Sales Ranks?"
No.However, that it will is the contention by Karim Lakhani and Macro Iansiti on HBR.org. Their post — which contains a number of points including the interesting issue of who music publishers missed the boat — argued the following:However as the iTunes and Taylor Swift examples illustrate, value capture is now becoming increasingly confusing for all …
Digitopoly 