Twenty Years Ago was a Long Time Ago

In 1990, Michael Porter, who is evidently a guru for marketing folks (though I'd never heard of him until I started my MBA) - wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled, "The Competitiveness Advantage of Nations." You guessed it, I have to read it for class.

It's amazing how much things have changed in the two decades since it was published, but it gives an interesting window into "the way it was" and the way it is "transitioning to be." In the article, he talks about what makes certain nations global players in an industry, while other nations, try as they might, just can't get in the game. In true Porter style, he has some interesting things to say (if not a very engaging way to say them). His points center around this: competition encourages excellence, and communication between companies, competitors, and the marketplace is paramount to innovation.

Makes sense. Yet, in his day, this relied on geographical proximity.

Here's an example of his thoughts:

"Suppliers and end-users located near each other can take advantage of short lines of communication, quick and constant flow of information, and an ongoing exchange of ideas and innovations."

Clearly, you don't have to be located near each other to experience that benefit anymore. The world is our marketplace. Global feedback can be immediate. Online communities offer a marketers pre-established focus groups - ready and willing to give feedback on ideas.

It's really very exciting.

itunes movies and you know you're a geek when...

Last night, we tested out itunes movie downloads. It's great. Unlike Amazon Unboxed, it's fast, you can start watching the movie before it's fully downloaded, and the whole process is "Apple elegant." The movie we chose wasn't very good, but we can hardly blame Apple for that (Spiderman 3, avoid it, you have been warned). The comment was made that it is "frustrating" that you can't get new movies until 30 days after their dvd release. Really though, who are we kidding? I am not exactly current with new releases. I'd call that one a nonissue.

And in a slightly off-topic comment... you know you're a geek when... you take unboxing photos of your new light. I got this Le Klint light for my office, and it arrived in an enormous box, with a box inside, and yet... another box inside. The anticipation of lighting goodness was great...

Why Virtual Isn't Always Better

I've had a goal to move my life online. Not my life... so much.... really... as my data. The idea is to not depend on one machine, but to be able to log in and get to everything I need virtually. "Anything, anywhere, anytime." So, all my project docs are kept online, all my mail is webmail, all my photos are in ofoto, etc.

This seems like a very mobile way to live.

Unless...

I just started a new jobby job and I've been applying that same lifestyle to my work life. As part of new product dev research, we're doing a survey project with a major research firm. That's all I can tell you, as the rest is in SSM (super stealth mode). By doing this survey, somehow, our hosting company decided we were running a phishing opp and cut us off.

It's a big political nightmare. We weren't phishing, of course, but trying to navigate the bureaucracy and get our hosting back is going to take some time. And.. in the meantime... I have lost all my work mail.

Note to self: this is a quick way to clean out my in box this is a pain in the....

Overwhelming Information

I just saw this on Good Morning Silicon Valley - it's worth a look: zipskinny.com. Just put in your zip and see what's going on, census-wise, in your hood.

I found out that in my zip, there is not a single person involved in Farming and Forestry. We don't have any Native Americans either. We're mostly a white (75%), middle-aged hood. Almost half (44%) of people in the zip have a college degree and 45% of them have been in the same house for 5+ years. All the data is from the 2000 census.

I also found out that everyone living in Achilles, VA is below the poverty line and that everyone in a zip in Columbia, SC is married. There's just endless info for your researching pleasure.

Off Topic: My MBA Course Has No Ethics

It's back to school time for me. And that means, posts about school for you!

This semester (which is our final one) we have a course entitled "Business Law and Ethics." However, yesterday our prof told us that we would have only one class in which we talked about ethics, but he didn't think that "ethics is a thing that can be taught" so we wouldn't go into it in depth.

I'm still really troubled that this program thinks like that. If you can't teach ethics, then how will people learn? If you can't teach ethics, why do so many top-tier business schools make it a core course? And finally, if you don't even make an effort, are you contributing to the problem?

I think so, yes. I think that just by *saying* that you can't teach ethics, and glossing over it like my prof did yesterday, it trivializes the topic. Ethics are an ENORMOUS issue in today's business environment... I don't even need to cite examples, we all know of dozens.

People just don't spend time thinking about where they stand and what they will do when presented with a sticky problem. Nor do they have a safe place (like an academic setting) to discuss scenarios and implications.

I keep thinking about that guy in my class and his famous line, "If it's legal, it must be ethical."
Leaving ethics out of our course is a real disservice to us, and our business world. And that's what I think about that.

Mmmm Mashups

I found this yesterday - rottenneighbor.com. I love the concept, but the site is new and in beta - so there's not much content yet. Nonetheless, it's just a great idea for a mashup.

The site merges Google Earth and tags about good or bad neighbors in your area. You can search on locations to see what's up with the neighbors in your prospective new hood.

Love it. I am fine with my present neighbors, but I could have written a book about the axe-wielding homicidal maniac that lived next to me in the loft I bought a couple years ago. Scarrrryyyy!

Let's Make a Deal: Your Privacy for Better Ads

Ok, who's up for this deal: you give me your private information, and I'll use it to make sure that I show you better ads. You want better ads don't you?

Well no. No one wants better ads. People don't like ads. People don't like being sold "stuff."

I've been thinking about this lately, and it's led me to do some research into trends in behavioral marketing. Generally, what I've found is that generally, the term is very general. It's one of those new, hot terms that has yet to have accepted, defined boundaries (sort of like umm, Web 2.0). At any rate, in the broadest sense, most people are using it to mean, "tracking what users do/have done on your site" and using that to market to them, as opposed to demographic or lifestyle data.

Ok, got it. So sometimes this behavioral data is multi-session, sometimes it's one session, sometimes it's anonymous, and sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's really just data mining and eCRM and sometimes it's really just web analytics. We can swizzle it many different ways, but in the end... it's what people have done or are doing on your site (or maybe your network of sites).

Ah, but here's the rub. When I'm on the internet, I don't always have the same purpose on the same site. Therefore, targeting content and ads to suit what I've done in the past, well that's not really the best way to go. I might just find it limiting and frustrating. Also there's the issue with the household computer. Your teenage son does not want to see ads on Amazon about self improvement books. And this just barely touches on the whole thing of privacy... Now, your teenage son might guess that Mom and Dad are having relationship issues. Bad news.

Here's an idea... what if marketers quit thinking about the best way to sell us more junk, and started thinking about how to optimize the user's experience online. Now that would be something. No one wants to trade their privacy for better ads, but we might trade it for a better experience.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone out there. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things after a nice relaxing, post-finals, holiday slacking time. Yes, school does lurk on the upcoming calendar, but I'm not worry about that until next weekend.

So, back on topic... Like many of you, I did all of my holiday shopping online. In fact, I do a LOT of my shopping online. It usually works out well, but there is one site that has caused me a few problems: neighborhoodies.com. I love this site. I love its attitude, I love the concept, it's just great. However, the site doesn't love me back. I've placed 3 orders on the site, two of which the company lost. One went through without a hitch, but that was the hoodie I ordered for someone else. Whenever I place an order for me, the order just disappears. Weird right? Well, with the last lost order, I had called and said (after several weeks) where is my order? And they said, umm, yah, lost it. So I said, "Clearly, I am not meant to have this hoodie." And they refunded my money. And I dealt with it. But I was sad. This was in October.

Then, on Xmas eve, the Fedx man drove up with a package. It was my hoodie. It's lovely. It's brown and has my last name in gothic letters on the back. Very gangsta. I think the company sent it to me as a gift, but other, more scrooge-like friends think it was a glitch between their fulfillment and their ordering system.

Whatever it was, I love the company. I had been feeling like they thought I just wasn't cool enough. Now I feel like I belong. Awww.

You should check them out. Neighborhoodies.com.