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July 31, 2006
July 29, 2006
Aging Whine
A nicely written Reuter's article by Michael Paoletta entitled "American Radio Hangs Up on Madonna" explains that the Material Girl's fans are whining and her handlers are scratching their head over why her recent album, "Confession's on a Dance Floor" is doing so poorly on the airwaves. My reading of the article and pop music trends suggests that no matter who you are, it's not easy to stay on the top of the top 40 when you have sailed this far past past 40. It's been an impressive run, Louise, but it's over.
The College of Rock and "The Bowie Theory"
In "Winners take all in Rockonomics", a Princeton University economist sometimes known as "the world's first and foremost professor of rockonomics" reports that concert sales are becoming a higher proportion of stars earnings than record sales and that ticket prices are climbing much faster than the rate of inflation? His "(David) Bowie Theory" explains why:
Before the advent of illegal downloads, artists had an incentive to underprice their concerts, because bigger audiences translated into higher record sales, Professor Krueger argues. But now, he says, the link between the two products has been severed, meaning that artists and their managers need to make more money from concerts and feel less constrained in setting ticket prices. Professor Krueger says this tendency was spotted by David Bowie, who told the New York Times in 2002 that "music itself is going to become like running water or electricity". Bowie has advised his fellow performers: "You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring, because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left."
Bowie's statement appeared in the June 9, 2002 edition of the New York Times, in an article entitled "David Bowie: 21st Century Entrpreneur" I made essentially the same argument, and many others, in a New York Times interview right around same time. In the July 2, 2002 edition I was quoted as saying:
Recorded music "will be used to promote the artist, and the labels will need to find other sources of revenue," predicted Starling Hunter III, an assistant professor at MIT, who studies the impact of technology on industries.
I also recall specifically mentioning that the downloading trend would create a shift away from "recording artists" and toward "performing artists." That insight ended up on the journalists equivalent of the cutting room floor. Prior to that time I had also been teaching the Harvard Business School Napster case and for at least a year before my and Bowie's NY Times interviews, I had written in my end-of-the-class summary:
There is also an important issue of technological frames, i.e. how a new technology can bring about changes in the activities and functions that an industry undertakes and how it views or defines itself in relation to those activities. What we now call the recording industry was not always named such. It was the advent of recording technologies made that name both possible and meaningful. Ask yourself if there is a difference between a “recoding” artists and a “performing” artist? If you think there is one, then ask yourself these questions: what are the implications for the forms of strategy and organizing when you view yourself as being in the business of selling recordings rather than performances?
Now I am not accusing Bowie of getting the idea from me- by every indication his ideas have extraterrestrial sources- but how come he gets all the credit for the idea? Let's all agree, shall we, to call this the "Bowie-Starling Theory" from now on. Admittedly it doesn't have the same ring or importance as Crick and Watson, but I can settle for it...well, that and a royalty check!
Tags: david bowie | new york times | music | mp3 | Download |
July 23, 2006
No Fries With That Sheikh
With every outbreak of hostilities between Israel or the US and Muslim-majority countries comes calls for a boycott by the latter (and their allies) of goods and services produced by the former. The current state of war between Israel and Lebanon is no exception. From "Electronic Intifada" we have this announcement:
Statement by the Palestinian Civil Society Campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel -- Acting Steering Committee: Specifically, people of conscience everywhere are called upon to:boycott all Israeli products and services; boycott Israeli academic, cultural, athletic and economic institutions; pressure unions, professional associations and civil society organizations to divest from Israel; pressure governments to stop all military trade with Israel, as a first step towards adopting total sanctions against it. All these measures should be maintained until Israel fully complies with international law and respects fundamental human rights of Arabs, whether in Lebanon or Palestine.
From the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel we have links to several reports: Greens to Bush: Press Israel to Stop the Attacks on Lebanon; Formation of Sanctions Against Israel Coalition In South Africa; Derry protesters demand Israeli goods boycott; and Film festival drops Israel as sponsor to protest attack.
The Dubai-based Gulf News recaps this wire story about worldwide protests against Israel:
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Europe and the United States, to march against Israel's war on Lebanon and the refusal of the US and British governments to condemn it. Police said 7,000 people joined the London protest which ran from the banks of the Thames to Hyde Park through torrential rain. Many people carried placards condemning "Israeli crimes in Lebanon." "We are all Hezbollah. Boycott Israel" read one. "Axis of evil: Bush, Blair, Olmert," read another, referring to the political leaders of the United States, Britain and Israel.
July 18, 2006
links for 2006-07-18
Carnival of Wal-Mart II
If you seek a five forces analysis of Wal-Mart, please try this page.
Welcome to the second installment of "The Carnival of Wal-Mart". The first edition was a rousing success and for that I thank all of you who contributed to and who helped to promote it. This week another outstanding group of posts has been carnivalized for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!
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Jack Yoest, our mid-Atlantic business blogger, got himself into a tiny tiff with the Jeff Hess over at The Writing on the Wal. Despite that fact that he got no comments on his recent “Wal-Mart Wednesday Open Thread” I still think Jeff has one of the best anti-Wal-Mart blogs I’ve seen and I plan to read it regularly. And to comment! What I most appreciate about the little tiff he had with Jack is that both they linked to each other’s blogs. And nothing warms this business blogger’s heart more than link love. And speaking of love, Jack’s got a great wedding picture of he and his beautiful wife, Charmaine, also a dedicated blogger at Reasoned Audacity. I think we should all call him “Lucky Jack” from now on.
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And speaking of Wal-Mart critics, there are thoughtful ones and then there are ones like Kenneth J. Harvey, proprietor of WalMartSucks.org. Yes I am linking to it. But be forewarned: before you follow the link put on a pair of rubber gloves. The site's toxic.
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And for the final word in this edition about Wal-Mart critics...I’d like to point direct your attention to a new blog called "Exposing the Paid Critics". It’s a project of Working Families for Wal-Mart that specializes in pointing out what it sees as hypocrisy, mendacity, logical fallacies of Wal-Mart's paid critics. Aside from a few technical glitches (permalink tags are misplaced), it’s a sharply designed site with smartly written content. The above post indicates that "Wake-Up Wal-Mart is so desperate to lure supporters that it is offering a “Free Happy Hour” to winners of a Missouri union local’s Picket Line Participation Contest!"
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Speaking of good content. Bloggingstocks is one excellent and informative site. According to the site “Bloggingstocks.com covers some of America's most widely-held stocks deeply, analytically and obsessively.” One of those stocks is Wal-Mart’s and the post on the company’s move into organic produce is as good an analysis as anything I’ve read elsewhere. If you are thinking of investing in Wal-Mart stock or understanding why the stock is or isn't performing to expectation, this is the place to look.
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Mr. B. has an interesting post about his shopping experiences with Wal-Mart and one of its local competitors, Kroger. When he factors in the value of his time, the purchase of Kroger brands rather than national brands, the discounts from the use of his Kroger card, as well as the one gets on gas purchases for buying more than $300 per month in groceries, he comes out way ahead. Good on him. He has freedom of choice, like all consumers, and decides based on his own preferences and needs whether or not to shop at Wal-Mart.
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On a related note, Stacy Lynn -who describes herself as “female, Upstate New Yorker, down-to-earth, feminist, college student, Wal-Mart cashier, amateur photographer, confident, funny, observant… (and a few other PG-15 adjectives)" - ponders this question: I always wondered how much less money I would spend at Wal-Mart if I didn’t work there? The answer may surprise you. The images in her blog’s banner suggests Stacy has a sharp, keen eye. If I ever happen to be in Upstate New York and need a good photographer I know who to call.
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By far the most interesting blogger represented this week is Defcon blog's “Doinkicarus” (please don’t ask me what it means or how to pronounce it). Here’s his “About me” statement: “I have a passion for liberty and snowboarding, studying for a Master's in Finance, concentrating on Economics. I am not a big fan of statism, and if you are, I'm probably not a very big fan of you. I blog. I party. I read - alot.” A lot of what he’s reading is Ludwig von Mises. A post from the Mises Institute site about Wal-Mart, as well as a Washington Post article about Maryland’s “Fair Share” Initiative are what inspired his post. Sounds very much like me at his age except I didn’t party, blog, or snowboard. But I blog and snowboard now. (I somehow think that Stacy and Doinkicarus were made for one another. Be sure to send me a wedding invitation. At a minimum, call Stacy and have her take better pictures of you and your drinking buddies.)
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James Joyner has a must read post about the New York Times and its passion for leaking confidential information to the press. This time the leakee is Wal-Mart and the confidential program concerns its new policy on shoplifting. The company plans to change its zero-tolerance policy on shoplifting to a $25 dollars-and-second-offense policy. In other words, if you try to steal less than $25 of merchandise and you've not shoplifted there before, they are no longer going to call the cops. I am sure the general public, the overwhelming majority of whom are NOT professional shoplifters, is relieved to have been informed about this.
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Stan, aka Blogger 1947, is clearly no fan of Wal-Mart as evidenced by the fact that he filed his entry under “Hypocrisy”, he called the firm “The Company from Hell” and his entry featured a cartoon of a flag with the letters “B.S.” being run up a flagpole. Ouch! Not surprisingly Stan took a dim view of Al Gore’s recent address at Wal-Mart. I am guessing from his picture that Stan’s formative years and life experiences were in the 1960’s. Not that’s there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that somehow I think Stan wishes that Gore had a plan to stick it to “The Man” any way he can.
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Jonathan, from my adopted home town of Seattle Washington, is a little less skeptical about Al Gore and Wal-Mart’s motives. He sees the move as part of a “cunningly smart PR campaign.” It’s hard to argue with his logic.
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The first paragraph of Aaron’s post is intriguing. He lives in NW Arkansas, “Wal-Mart’s corporate backyard”, knows a lot of former and current employees, and as a result, says he's privy to a lot of gossip. This week’s tidbit… Lee Scott’s pending resignation. It’s been 11 days since Aaron posted this and there’s no word yet.. but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.
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Tom over at Paloustics is a man on fire this week. The bloggers there produce some of the best local and national commentary and analysis on Wal-Mart. I consider it a must-read. What’s got Tom’s up in arms is the effort of unions and other critics to draw out, stall, or prevent the construction of a Wal-Mart in the Eastern Washington town of Pullman. The tactics used by the critics (Tom calls them “jihadis”. Ouch! ) are important to observe as they are used in many other towns and counties around the nation.
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BurbMojo thinks that it was a bad idea for Wal-Mart employees to be asked or made to help look for a bomb in one of their stores.
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Richard writes about an outing in the blogsophere earlier this summer and some of the acrimony it has engendered. The blogger who was outed was one Armando, a previously anonymous diarist at the blogopshere’s top political site- the reliably far-left “Daily K-os.” But Armando wasn’t outed for his sexual orientation. Rather, it was his economic, professional, political affiliations that got him in trouble with the Kossacks. Armando Lloréns-Sar hails from Puerto Rico where he works as a partner in a corporate law firm, McConnel Valdes. And the crime for which he was banished? According to National Review Online, Armando “…represented Wal-Mart in an anti-trust capacity in Puerto Rico” but failed to disclose this fact in his front-page Daily K-os posts. All this lead Richard, another K-os diarist, to call for “more disclosure from political bloggers of their political affiliations.” According to Richard, Armando “detested” the idea. A “substantial controversy broke out”, one which has now only yet to settle down. Who knew representing Wal-Mart could lead to such hostility?
July 16, 2006
Grave Concerns
The Sunday Times Online (UK) reports on an obscene business practice within a seamy industry:
For the past 15 years David Smith, a builders’ merchant, has been killing healthy greyhounds no longer considered by their trainers to be fast enough to race. He buries them in a one-acre plot at the back of his home in Seaham, Co Durham. Last week The Sunday Times covertly filmed Smith on two consecutive days receiving greyhounds from trainers before killing them with a bolt gun, dumping them in the plot and covering over the “graves” using a mechanical digger.
The Good Life
In the comment thread of a recent Belmont post about the state of war between Israel and Lebanon and Hezbollah, "Aristides" left this cryptic comment: "If you want to read a hell of a (comment) thread, go here."
"Here", as it turns out, is a post entitled "Becoming a Refugee" on a Lebanese blog entitled "Lebanese Political Journal". The blog's mission is "to provide in-depth analysis in English on the political situation in Lebanon." And so it does. And quite admirably I might add.
As it's title suggests, in the post in question, a blogger by the name of "Lebanon.Profile" explains that the current spate of hostilities has made imperative his departure from Lebanon. His destination, interestingly, is Syria. While it's is outside the scope of one post or this blog to cover the political discussions on the thread, there was one aspect of LP's lament that caught my attention:
All my Hezbollah supporting friends are sticking around. They call the rest of us cowards. I guess we are. We want to do scientific research. We want our children to learn how to play the piano. We want to watch our stock porfolios burgeon. We can't do that here any more.
My thoughts about those remarks are these. Well of course he wants those things. He gives every appearance of being a thoughtful and decent soul. That said, does LP really think, I asked as I read, that these things can happen in Lebanon, in a country that
(1) won't fight for its independence, to be free of foreign influence(2) is not exhibiting, at this crucial time, the propensity for or appreciation of critical thinking skills by its leaders who choose, instead, to point the finger outward rather than look inward
(3) has ceded, apparently out of fear and fecklessness, large swathes of it's territory to terrorists who take directions from a messianic, fascist theocrats hell-bent on genocide and support from a marginalized second-generation dictatorship
Scientific research, properly-functioning capital markets, and the ability to raise your children in freedom and without the ever-present prospect of war - all these good things come at a cost. The citizens in societies where these things happen are, by and large, characterized by institutions like self-sufficiency, a belief that hard work eventually pays off and is a reward in and of itself, personal and collective responsibility, respect for the rule of the laws of men, as well as a good measure of the live-and-let-live philosophy regarding non-injurious personal behavior.
Apparently LP and millions of others in the region remain blissfully- and perhaps willfully- ignorant of how such institutions, along with tremendous sacrifice, have allowed the world's prosperous democracies to achieve what they have and what they mean to keep...at all costs.
File Under: Belmont Club
Nooses and Loopholes
The government of the United Arab Emirates is pushing ahead with its "Emiratization" initiative, defined by Wikipedia as "a movement...to proactively employ its citizens in the public and private sectors to reduce its dependence on foreign workers."
Among the most recent high-profile moves was the June 24th announcement by the Ministry of Labor that secretaries and human resources managers in the private sector must soon be replaced by UAE Nationals.
This has set off a flurry of activity on the part of the effected expats to look for loopholes, work arounds, or exceptions to the rules. Apparently the Ministry anticipated this and has moved to close loopholes that allowed secretaries and HR-related administrative staff to reposition themselves for other jobs. From the sound of this Gulf News report, the Ministry's officials sound pleased with themselves:
Many expatriate secretaries, looking for a loophole in the system to continue working here after emiratisation comes into effect, have been outsmarted by the Ministry of Labour. A surprise awaits them if they approach typing centres to submit online applications under "other professional categories."
links for 2006-07-16
July 15, 2006
Extraordinary Extradition II: Where's the Beef?
Yesterday's post on the extradition of the "NatWest 3" to the US prompted this angry reply from "Stuart" in the UK:
As with almost all US commentators, you miss the point. The alleged loss was suffered by NatWest, a British Bank, who were advised to sell shares allegedly below value. This took place in London. The British authorities have decided not to prosecute on this matter. The US authorities have no business doing so. This is extra territorial reach at its worst. If it was Enron itself, a US corporation, that had lost out from this, I would have no objection to a US prosecution. However, there appears to be no suggestion that Enron itself lost out in this deal, and there seems to be no connection here with the financial wrongdoings within Enron itself.The furore about the extradition is a sideshow, the principle at stake is the seeming ability of the US to prosecute UK citizens under their laws, alleged crimes taking place in the UK which the alleged victim is a UK institution. Our message to you is - butt out of our affairs.
Today I looked a little more deeply into the charges against the NatWest 3. Here's how The Scotsman describes what the men stand accused of:
They face allegations that in 2000 they advised their former employer NatWest to sell part of a company owned by the collapsed US giant Enron for less than it was worth. They then left the bank and bought a stake in the company, which they sold on at a significantly higher price to make a huge profit, it is claimed.
And were that all there was to it, I guess I'd have to agree with Stewart that this is purely a domestic, i.e. soley UK, affair. But then there's this paragraph that follows immediately the one above:
It is alleged that they travelled to Houston in 2000 to meet Enron's chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow, to concoct the scheme. They each face a maximum of 35 years in prison if convicted of all the charges against them.
Well now things are a bit clearer. If they did indeed fly to Houston and conspired with Andrew Fastow -a man who has since been convicted and is now serving time for his part in the Enron collapse - then there is good reason for these men to at least be under suspicion of wrongdoing. We already know Fastow defrauded Enron stockholders and helped to bankrupt the company. That doesn't mean that the NatWest 3 are guilty of anything, per se, but I have to believe that it is not safe to come to America and plan with American executives how to scam companies or individual in other countries. Still, the fact that the UK has not prosecuted does make you wonder if this is, as Stewart suggests, a case of "extra-terroritial reach."
Thus, I decided to read the actual indictment as it appears on the Department of Justice website. So did the BBC. It's summary provides details not mentioned by The Scotsman.
Continue reading "Extraordinary Extradition II: Where's the Beef?" »
links for 2006-07-15
July 14, 2006
Stepping on the Gas
The Russian government has received a great deal of criticism in the last decade over the slow pace of its political reforms and its reluctant embrace of free-markets. That said, the Russians do have their fans, however, principally in the capital markets of the West and the energy markets of the East. With regard to the former, the Russian state oil firm Rosneft is on its way to a highly successful intial public offering:
Russian state oil firm Rosneft has priced its IPO at $7.55 a share, a source close to the placement told Reuters on Friday. The source said an official announcement was due later on Friday. The pricing gives Russia's No. 3 oil firm a market capitalisation of slightly under $77 billion, a premium to its local benchmark and No. 1 producer Lukoil.
The IPO has not been without its share of controversy however:
The flotation of Russia’s state oil company on the London Stock Exchange was last night heading into an unprecedented legal storm when a request was made to the High Court for an interim injunction to stop the listing of Rosneft’s shares. Yukos, the beleaguered oil company whose principal asset is now owned by Rosneft, has made an application for judicial review to challenge the listing and an interim order that could, if it were granted, prevent the start of trading of billions of dollars in Rosneft stock at the end of next week.
Here's how Rosneft came to own Yukos' "principal asset" and make it beleaguered:
links for 2006-07-14
July 13, 2006
Extraordinary Extradition
It was George Bernard Shaw (1896-1950) who said that England and America were two nations separated by a common language. As The Scotsman tells it, when three former bankers from Britain boarded a plane today headed for Houston, Texas, the gulf got a wee bit wider.
THE three former NatWest bankers accused of an £11 million fraud began their extradition journey to the United States today. The so-called NatWest Three - David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby - boarded a flight from Gatwick to Houston, Texas, after reporting to Croydon police station in south London.
What The Scotsman neglects to mention in its opening paragraph is the name of the other party to the fraud- Enron. And that facts says a great deal about how differently the press, politicians, and law enforcement officials view the issue in the two nations. For one thing, there is a considerable degree of sympathy in England for the bankers, and not without good reason:
The extradition of the so-called 'NatWest Three' has attracted wide-spread criticism as it was sanctioned under a controversial fast-track procedure agreed by British authorities with the US. he treaty with Washington means Britons can be extradited to the US without evidence first being produced that they have a case to answer. It has been bitterly attacked by opposition politicians because the US Congress has yet to ratify the treaty, which means there is no reciprocal arrangement for the extradition of US nationals to the UK.
Today's Financial Times reports an unusual concordance in parliament about the case:
Both houses of parliament on Tuesday night united in a rare and striking protest over the planned extradition to the US on Thursday of the “NatWest three”, piling pressure on the British and US governments to intervene. In the House of Lords, Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers passed a resolution stating the US should be stripped from the list of countries to which the UK allows fast-track extradition until the US Senate ratifies a treaty signed by London and Washington in 2003.
Night at the End of the Tunnels
It's been a bad week for tunnels and tunnelers. Several reports in the European press over the last two days describe efforts to forestall bankruptcy at Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel linking Paris and London.
Eurotunnel has applied for legal protection from its creditors after last-ditch talks aimed at averting its bankruptcy broke up without agreement. The Channel Tunnel operator has asked a French court to freeze its debts to enable it to continue operating while a Judge tries to mediate a solution. It has been trying to persuade its bondholders to back a deal to cut its 8.7bn euros (£6.2bn) debt pile in half. But a dissident group of creditors has refused to support the proposals.
links for 2006-07-13
July 12, 2006
Sales (of) Pitch
The World Cup is over, but the merchandising is just getting off the ground, literally:
"The pitch will be lifted on Tuesday (July 11th). The Quelle company will then cut it into pieces and sell it to fans," Olympic stadium groundsman Alan Cairncross told the Tagesspiegel am Sonntag newspaper Sunday. The pitch will be cut into 30 by 20 centimetre chunks which fans can buy on the internet for 75 euros (96 dollars), including a certificate of authenticity.
A story I saw on BBC this morning said that the certificate of authenticity indicates from where on the field each piece of the pitch came. If there is an after-market for these things, I expect that the place where Zidane's star fell - the pieces from the spot where he delivered that vicious headbutt to Marco Materazzi's chest - will be worth more than any others. I'll check E-Bay in a few weeks to find out.
links for 2006-07-12
July 11, 2006
The Festival of Job Hunting
Welcome to the Festival of Job Hunting. For regulars you'll note that this is the second carnival of the day and the third in the last two weeks. What can I say, I like hosting carnivals. Of course it's good exposure, it's good for traffic and and increases the number of links. But there are other benefits. I learn a lot more than I expected about interesting topics, I learn about a number of good blogs that I should be reading (the list keeps on growing) and I pick up a number of good ideas for future posts of my own. That's a lit of benefit for so little time and effort invested. Enjoy the selection!
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David Maister offers some very helpful advice for a reader who asked this question: ""how do we remind ourselves (and others) on a daily basis, why we're going thru the discipline and discomfort of doing things differently in such a way that the resolve is renewed and refreshed and consistent?"
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Claire is rightly concerned about when is the appropriate time for a job applicant to bring up salary: "Everybody knows it can be off-putting when prospective employees to appear too focused on money. It's taboo to talk about money too early in the game, and it has to be handled delicately when it finally comes up. It's ironic, considering most of us are not working for the fun of it. We're working because we want or need to get paid." Her last comment is interesting because we academics prefer to concentrate on workers who work for self-realization, not primarily for money. That could be a problem for some of our theories.
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Your host examines a Japanese company who held interviews with job applicants at the top of Mt. Fuji, Japan's tallest mountain. The applicants were all young and healthy college students and the interviews were held in the summer. Gives a new and unfortunate meaning to the phrase "climbing to the top.
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And speaking of climbing to the top, Katie knows how to spot a situation where prospects for advancement are limited. Her advice is particulary helpful for younger workers, i.e. those in their first one or two jobs after college. I wish I had know to think of these things at that age.
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David have three observations that every employee should remember while setting and executing their career strategy: Opportunity is ever present; Growth is a natural process; and Value Begets Success.
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Chuck's short post deals with a dilemma many workers are now, have had to, or one day will face:whether to keep working at a job that is uncertain or take an early buyout.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Festival of Job Hunting using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags: Festival of Job Hunting, blog carnival.
Aridini |July 10, 2006
The Carnival of Wal-Mart I
If you seek a five forces analysis of Wal-Mart, please try this page.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Carnival of Wal-Mart. Fourteen posts have been carnivalized and they represent a broad range of perspectives on Wal-Mart and its impacts. I would greatly appreciate the authors adding to the body of their post, this HTML code:
This post was included in the Carnival of Wal-Mart I hosted by The Business of America is Business.
And if your site can send trackbacks, that would be greatly appreciated as well. The trackback URL is:
http://www.thebusinessofamericaisbusiness.biz/MT/mt-tb.cgi/324
Now on with the show!
Jack gets us started with five reasons why “left-of-center political activists” hate Wal-Mart: (1) it’s a right-to-work company (2) its political donations favor the Republican party (3) it supports pro-life organizations (4) its billions in yearly profits are outside the reach of those who promote income redistribution and (5) it’s hell on its competitors, some of whose positions on items 1-4 are more to the liking of said political activists.-
James takes up a related question with his commentary on a Slate article entitled “Is Wal-Mart Good for the American Working Class?” His answer is “yes, it is” , the same conclusion reached by Slate - no bastion of pro-business sentiment. That conclusion is supported by a few world-renowned economists from both Harvard and MIT- one of whom you might not have expected to weigh in Wal-Mart’s favor. Unfortunately, more than a few of the post’s commenters seem unable to grasp the import of facts and figures presented. -
Evan finds little merit in the anecdotally-supported arguments of anti-Wal-Mart pundits like Barbara Ehrenreich. Her suggestions are typical, he asserts, of economically-illiterate aesthetes who, in the name of the ill-defined concept of “economic justice”, advocate solutions that would create more “better” jobs yet greater numbers of unemployed and underemployed, as well.
Doug links to an article about whether or not Wal-Mart is going to be able to prevail in a court case to control commercial rights of its smiley face logo.
Tom’s question, “What is Wal-Mart Worth to a Town?”, is approached from a novel angle: he links to an article describing what is happening in one city where Wal-Mart has decided to pull up stakes. The estimated tax loss for a city of 3,500 people is over $1.5 million.
Johnny T links to an article by Laurence Vance of the Mises Institute which lists 10 reasons not to like Wal-Mart. They are really good reasons and not the same 10 as Jack Yoest listed.
Jonathan, like the NY Times article he cites, seems pleased with the fact that Wal-Mart has been compelled to unionize in Britain. Interestingly, his site contains a blog ad that suggests that a campaign similar to Wal-Mart Watch is being initiated against another “bad employer” – FedEx. That’s a development to Watch.-
A few years ago, political commentator Bill Maher forwarded the idea that every time you fill your SUV, you’re “riding with Bin Laden”. Though not precisely true, the idea has some face value. As The Gun Toting Liberal sees it, there is an analogous situation between shopping at Wal-Mart and supporting China’s crackdown on the internet, blogs, and freedom of expression. For me that’s a stretch: the more deserving target of GTL’s ire would be Google. -
Joe Trippi, former Howard Dean campaign manager, links to a Wake-Up-Wal-Mart Watch press release “asking Americans to declare their independence from WalMart.” There is even a petition they can sign. After doing so, they should go back and read Tom Forbes post so that they know what they signed up for.
TCP has looked over a recent Rasmussen poll and finds that most Americans are favorably disposed towards Wal-Mart. The only ones that are not, it seems, are “the upper middle class and rich folks, the one's least likely to be shopping there.” This leads him to wonder whether anti-Wal-Mart unions are spending their funds wisely.-
Rita looked at the same polling data as TCP and wondered about the importance of particular product categories in shoppers preferences for Wal-Mart over competitors, e.g. “if someone was asked if they would prefer to buy clothes from Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart, would they still choose Wal-Mart? Or, if they were given the chance to have a shopping spree at either Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart, would they still pick Wal-Mart?” Great questions.
Chris is pleasantly surprised to see that the Hudson, Wisconsin school district (HSD) is buying Wal-Mart goods by the truckload. He concludes that perhaps last year’s boycott of Wal-mart called by the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teacher’s union, has not succeeded- at least not in his area.-
John’s post is not about a score from a baseball game. Rather, it provides an explanation about why the Chicago suburb of Niles, population 30,000, will soon have two Wal-Mart’s while Chicago, population 3 million, still has only 1. The answer is not pretty. -
Your host's post examines reasons for the failure of Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch to successfully promote the Fair Share insurance initiative in several states. To date, Maryland remains their one and only victory in the Fair Shair campaign. For the true die-hard, here's a link to my Wal-Mart archive.
See you next week.
July 9, 2006
links for 2006-07-09
July 8, 2006
Announcing the Carnival of Wal-Mart
If you seek a five forces analysis of Wal-Mart, please try this page.
Wal-Mart has garnered an astounding amount of attention in the last few years. Several books have been written about the company- both pro and con. Hardly a week passes without some major media outlet publishing an in-depth profile of the Bentonville-based corporation and its leadership, an expose about its struggle with labor unions, or an analysis of its human resource and outsourcing practices.
Political consultants now routinely offer advice on how to court (or to avoid offending) regular Wal-Mart customers. Economists, management scholars, and law professors hold academic conferences to debate Wal-Mart’s impacts on society. Even film-makers and documentarians have entered the fray using their art form to raise controversial and compelling questions about the firm, questions deserving careful consideration.
While bloggers have not exactly been silent about Wal-Mart, until now there has been no place in the blogosphere for gathering and summarizing the best of what bloggers think about the world’s largest retailer. Until now, that is.
With this in mind, Starling Hunter of The Business of America is Business blog announces the creation of “The Carnival of Wal-Mart”. In the tradition of other blog carnivals like the highly successful “Carnival of the Capitalists” and “Carnival of the Vanities”, this carnival invites bloggers to submit posts pertaining to anything related to Wal-Mart- it’s leadership, its businesses practices, its products, and its plans.
The Carnival of Wal-Mart will be published once weekly. Submissions should be sent through the carnival’s web page on the Blog Carnival site. (The first edition is here. )
While posts that criticize Wal-Mart are welcomed as much as those that support or defend it, the key consideration for inclusion in the weekly carnival is the degree of thoughtful and original commentary. The Carnival of Wal-Mart is not a place for (re)posting press releases or content generated by major media organizations, activists, pundits, or PR firms.
Please direct any questions and comments to the carnival moderator, Starling Hunter, at starlingdavidhunter at gmail dot com.
July 7, 2006
The Blight Club
I'd bet that most regular readers of this blog have heard of both the Red Cross and the Green Movement. Few, I suspect, have heard of the "Green Cross."
As the New York Times tells it, The Green Cross is a progressive, humanitrian movement of a sort: it is a chain of medical marijuana dispensaries.
links for 2006-07-07
July 6, 2006
Lay and Lie; Skilling and Shilling
Disgraced and convicted former Enron CEO Ken Lay has made headlines once again. The real news is that now he is being discussed in the past tense:
The sudden death of disgraced Enron Corp. founder Ken Lay topped newspaper headlines across the nation on Thursday, with media reactions ranging from outraged to cheated. Lay, 64, died of a coronary artery disease early on Wednesday while vacationing near Aspen, Colorado with his wife, Linda. His death came six weeks after he and former protege Jeffrey Skilling were convicted of fraud and conspiracy for lying to hide the financial chaos at the energy company that collapsed in 2001 in one of the country's most infamous business scandals.
As I read the above passage, I recalled that the while words lay and lie have meaning different meanings, some of them are related. Lay is the past tense of lie, a word which means both "to be or place oneself at rest in a flat, horizontal, or recumbent position" and "to be buried in a specified place." Another definition of "lie", of course, is "A false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood"
Skilling has an interesting set of definitions as well. According to