Wednesday, May 21, 2003

Yesterday was a busy day.  Three elective classes, which were all interesting In Consumer Behavior, we learned about the Elaboration Likelihood Model. In Dynamic Pricing, we learned how to use decision-under-risk models (the same ones used in Process & Operations Management) to decide how many seats should be saved for business-class passengers on a plane. Later that evening, I went to see Joe Rice and Jack Welch speak at the Insead Global Leaders Series.  While the quality of questions was not exceptional, it was nice to see a packed auditorium.  It felt like worshipping at the altar of capitalism; the equivalent of a visit by the Pope.  People were very ga-ga at the sight of them. I wrote down my comments to give a flavor of the event.   6:51:27 PM    comment []

Ingemar Dierickx's Quotes of the Day from Negotiation Analysis "What is the purpose of a watch?  To tell time.  What is the purpose of a timepiece?  To tell others something completely different."  (For the record, Ingemar wears a Swatch.) (discussing which auction format is best, when V1, V2, ...Vn are the valuations of all bidders) "Getting V2 in an auction is easy.  My grandmother could get V2." (on a small town in France that had once been an industrial center) "It's a great place to buy things: there is still wealth, but no income!" "It's commonly believed that an English auction creates excitement and, therefore, value.  This is a myth."  (He went on to explain that values generated in an auction are independent of the auction format; Sotheby's and Christie's would beg to differ, but of course they would want you to think otherwise.)   6:31:55 PM    comment []