Listen to yesterday's Prairie Home Companion song on romantic statistics: scroll down to "Statistics" after clicking here.
Happy Valentine's Day, readers.
Bill
Steve Levitt, author of Freakonomics, gave a presentation on big data in corporations. It should be watched by all CEOs and wanna-be CEOs. It's discouraging in that it shows many companies' unwillingness to use the data they have, but it's
For years I have been writing about the Trial and Error Economy. Now there's a great TED talk on the subject by Tim Harford:
To read my articles on the subject, scroll down on the right
Starbucks is trying to help its staff members be more efficient. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, they are using old fashioned time and motion studies. A barista makes a latte, while someone watches with a stopwatch. Early
The New York Times has an article about quantitative analysis coming to the advertising industry. In the old days, ad agencies labored for months to create the perfect ad–perfect being totally subjective. They only had the vaguest idea of whether
This new regulatory proposal from Treasury Secretary Paulson reminds me of the Patriot Act. The department has a laundry list of changes it wants. Then there’s a crisis. At which point the department pulls out its laundry list and says,
"Markets and Medicare" is a great article in today’s Wall Street Journal by my good friend John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis. The article has value beyond the Medicare debate, but let’s first key in on
Nike has implemented a major change in strategy, according to an interesting article in Forbes Magazine.
The company had previously advertised with a mass market focus. Its "swoosh" logo was everywhere, as was it’s great motto, "Just do it."
The
I’ve used Starbucks business strategy as a way to discuss the Trial and Error Economy (here and here). I’m not, by any means, the world’s greatest expert on the company, but it provides a great vehicle for teaching about corporate
Starbucks began with a willingness to experiment, according to Taylor Clark’s new book, Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture. The book begins with a story from when the company had only eleven stores. The Vancouver BC