Archive for December 22nd, 2009

Going for the capillaries (and not the jugular): Nailing the tanning salons

December 22, 2009

There was an interview on one of the biz shows yesterday — a poor stiff who owned a couple of tanning salons.

They guys was pale .  (Pardon the pun) 

He said: “life savings in the salons … eeking out a living … getting slammed by the recession since tanning is as discretionary as spending gets … was stunned to hear about the 10% tax … will probably have to shut down”

When asked “Were your lobbyists asleep at the switch?”, he answered “Are you kidding, what lobbyists?”

Maybe it’s a good idea to shut down tanning salons — frankly, I don’t have a point of view on that one.

But, raises a couple of questions:

1) How much tax revenue will be raised via the tanning salon tax if all the tanning salons close?

2) Is it right for the full force of the government to come down on a piddly business like tanning salons?

3) Why not tatoo parlors?  Or, funnel cake stands?  Or, (fill in the blank)

Hands off Wall Street, big insurance, big pharma, etc., but nail the tanners … Geez.

Posted in Health Care / Medical Insurance | Leave a Comment »

Scratch your head before clicking thru to any of these sites …

December 22, 2009

From a compendium of the worst unintentional website url addresses:

1. A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is
www.whorepresents.com

2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at
www.expertsexchange.com

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
www.penisland.net

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
www.therapistfinder.com

5. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company…
www.powergenitalia.com

6. And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales:
www.molestationnursery.com

7. If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always
www.ipanywhere.com

8. Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church. Their website is
www.cummingfirst.com

9. Then, of course, there’s these brainless art designers, and their whacky website:
www.speedofart.com

10. Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their brochure website at
www.gotahoe.com

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Source article:
http://independentsources.com/2006/07/12/worst-company-urls/

Thanks to Butchy for stringing the lead.

Posted in Laughs | Leave a Comment »

Why can't Americans make things? Two words: business school

December 22, 2009

Excerpted from The New Republic, Upper Mismanagement: Why can’t Americans make things? Two words: business school, December 18, 2009

The business schools had their own incentives to channel students into high-paying fields like finance, thanks to the rising importance of school rankings, which heavily weighted starting salaries. The career offices at places like Harvard, Stanford, and Chicago institutionalized the process—for example, by making it easier for Wall Street outfits and consulting firms to recruit on campus.

A recent Harvard Business School case study about General Electric shows that the company had so much trouble competing for MBAs that it decided to woo top graduates from non-elite schools rather than settle for elite-school graduates in the bottom half or bottom quarter of their classes.

No surprise then that, over time, the faculty and curriculum at the Harvards and Stanfords of the world began to evolve. “If you look at the distribution of faculty at leading business schools, they’re mostly in finance. …  Business schools are responsive to changes in the external environment.”

Which meant that, even if a student aspired to become a top operations man (or woman) at a big industrial company, the infrastructure to teach him didn’t really exist.

In fairness, all that financial expertise we’ve been churning out hasn’t been a complete waste (much as it may seem that way today).

Many of the financial restructurings of the ‘80s and ‘90s made the economy more efficient and competitive.

Likewise, it would be ludicrous to suggest that simply changing the culture of business schools would single-handedly revive U.S. manufacturing. 

But, it’s hard to believe that American manufacturing has a chance of recovering unless business schools start producing people who can run industrial companies, not just buy and sell their assets. And we’re pretty far away from that point today.

Full post:
http://www.tnr.com/article/economy/wagoner-henderson?page=0,1

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Thanks to Laj for the lead

Posted in Careers & Interviewing | Leave a Comment »

Wal-mart and Amazon put a bullseye on Target.

December 22, 2009

TakeAway:  Wal-mart, Amazon, and Target didn’t want to just lose money on books, they decided to lose money on DVDs too. 

The latest price wars to lure consumers during the holidays may cause irreversible long-term damage.

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Excerpted from WSJ, “Online Price War Moves to DVDs As Discounters Compete for Sales,” By Miguel Bustillo and Ann Zimmerman, November 6, 2009

Wal-Mart extended its holiday price war into new territory Thursday by slashing online prices on 10 hotly anticipated DVDs … to $10.

Within hours, Amazon and Target matched some of Wal-Mart’s online prices on pre-orders of the DVDs, and Wal-Mart lowered its price by a penny to $9.99, reprising the scuffle that broke out last month when Wal-Mart launched an aggressive $10 book promotion …

Like the book war … the DVD battle resulted in prices that guaranteed the retailers would lose money on the movies. However, promotions to sell new movie releases close to or below cost in order to drive customer traffic are already common in retailing …

Though Wal-Mart, Amazon and Target always compete feverishly with aggressively priced promotions, the latest skirmishes, heading into a holiday season in which recession-scarred consumers are searching for bargains, have been especially cutthroat.

Despite involving just a handful of titles, the book war aroused strong passions in the publishing industry. Some worried that it would set troublesome new customer expectations on bestseller prices and even affect the amount of future advances publishers could afford to pay writers.

The American Booksellers Association last month asked the Department of Justice to determine if it constituted “illegal predatory pricing,” arguing independent book stores wouldn’t be able to compete.

The book prices were so low that the retailers placed limits on the number of copies customers could purchase.

Edit by TJS

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Full Article
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704013004574518210171023536.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

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Posted in Mktg - Pricing, Retailing | Leave a Comment »