Safety first?. US auto fatalities are at a 12-year high. Eighty percent of the increase since 2001 is due to rollover accidents. The rollover rate for SUVs is three times higher than for cars. You do the math. Millions of Americans buy these things because the think they are safer. Our government policies create huge… Continue reading 12-year high
Wired
Wired. The business of weblogging for bucks. More on the way for the Weblog Network now that I have my weblog back up. “Niche, niche and niche, that's the name of the game. You can't just start a site/blog just because you love it, and there are 1,000 other sites like that out there. Unless… Continue reading Wired
Canning spam
Canning spam. Spontaneous end-to-end communication used to be the Internet's magic ingredient. But scarcity of IPv4 address space and legions of vandals resulted in NATs and firewalls. Now, unfiltered end-to-end communication happens, for the most part, by invitation only. Until recently, the lone exception was e-mail. You didn't need permission to contact someone by e-mail,… Continue reading Canning spam
John Robb is back
John Robb is back. John Robb is back, located now at MindPlex.org. [via Bryan Strawser][tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog]
Tim Bray on Technology Adoption
Tim Bray on Technology Adoption. As usual, Tim's got some great stuff to read: People, on average and in the long term, aren't stupid and aren't patient and aren't cowards. When there's an obviously better way to get the job done, they go out and get it, and management can't stop them, and Forrester and… Continue reading Tim Bray on Technology Adoption
Oligopoly brief: Clear Channel
Clear Channel is the dominant player in the radio business. The company owns 1,240 AM and FM stations across the United States. It owns stations in 248 of the top 250 radio markets. As one writer
Oligopoly brief: Clear Channel Clear Channel is the dominant player in the radio business. The company owns 1,240 AM and FM stations across the United States. It owns stations in 248 of the top 250 radio markets. As one writer puts it, ” Clear Channel in particular dominates the Top 40 format (KIIS-FM in Los… Continue reading
Oligopoly brief: Clear Channel
Clear Channel is the dominant player in the radio business. The company owns 1,240 AM and FM stations across the United States. It owns stations in 248 of the top 250 radio markets. As one writer
Boise Casade buys OfficeMax
Boise Cascade announced that it will acquire the OfficeMax office supplies superstore chain for $1.115 billion. While Boise Cascade is by origin a wood and paper company, in recent years, all of its profits and a substantial portion of its income have come from the sale of office products. In fact with $3.6 billion in office supply sales in 2002, Boise Cascade is almost as big in that area as OfficeMax ($4.8 billion). The difference is that OfficeMax serves individuals and small business with its (around 1,000) retail outlets, while Boise Cascade sells directly to large businesses nationwide and in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand (over 40 offices).
For OfficeMax, it is a survival move. The company is far smaller than its rivals
Boise Casade buys OfficeMax Boise Cascade announced that it will acquire the OfficeMax office supplies superstore chain for $1.115 billion. While Boise Cascade is by origin a wood and paper company, in recent years, all of its profits and a substantial portion of its income have come from the sale of office products. In fact… Continue reading
Boise Casade buys OfficeMax
Boise Cascade announced that it will acquire the OfficeMax office supplies superstore chain for $1.115 billion. While Boise Cascade is by origin a wood and paper company, in recent years, all of its profits and a substantial portion of its income have come from the sale of office products. In fact with $3.6 billion in office supply sales in 2002, Boise Cascade is almost as big in that area as OfficeMax ($4.8 billion). The difference is that OfficeMax serves individuals and small business with its (around 1,000) retail outlets, while Boise Cascade sells directly to large businesses nationwide and in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand (over 40 offices).
For OfficeMax, it is a survival move. The company is far smaller than its rivals
oligopsony
The shelf life of booksWe talked before about the importance of shelf life, indicating that one of the key issues for most companies involves extending the shelf life of its products. In the crazy book industry, where a few chains (Borders, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart) hold a powerful oligopsony, even the biggest publishers have little power… Continue reading oligopsony
credit card operations
Sears discards credit division Citigroup bought the credit card operations of Sears for $3.4 billion. That's another step in the roll-up of the credit industry. The idea is that Sears can now concentrate on its core business, rather than financial services. But the problem is that Sears is threatened in its core businesses. In apparel… Continue reading credit card operations
David Galbraith groks it
David Galbraith groks it. This just in from David Galbraith….. One small step for Technorati.. Something interesting is happening in the world of online identities. The end goal is clear – a distributed, decentralized identity system where people have control over their own identity online – a people's 'Passport' or what Marc Canter envisages as… Continue reading David Galbraith groks it