Thursday, September 12, 2002

"Judge delays decision on injunction against Twins and baseball", Associated Press, November 15, 2001. What do you think of Major League Baseball's argument: ``The government does not have the right to mandate the continued operation of a business, even if the public likes the services offered by that enterprise.'' [LINK: consumer surplus, producer surplus (pre-term, 3), externalities (20)] 3:41:42 PM    comment []

"The Odd Couple", Fortune, May 1, 2000. Scott McNealy and Jack Welch discuss how the internet has changed business. This a chatty and lengthy interview. The middle part is the most interesting, especially around MCNEALY: "This is how the networking of business has changed everything. All of a sudden, demand curves are more important than supply curves. It's confusing for us, too. In the whole history of Sun we have never really known what the demand is, what the elasticities are, or what the 'right' prices are for our equipment." What does McNealy mean by saying that demand curves are now more important than supply curves? (I'm not sure myself.) According the McNealy and Welch (in 2000) what are the key market definition implications of the networking of business? 3:40:06 PM    comment []

"Ethanol For Fuel Fundamentally Uneconomic, Study Says", Daily University Science News, August 13, 2001. Take Dr. Pimentel's statements about the ethanol production process as a given (and suppose for a moment that there is no other possible way to make ethanol). Absent any government subsidy, is it possible that ethanol will ever become a demand substitute for gasoline in the eyes of automobile drivers? What needs to change before ethanol becomes a demand substitute for gasoline? [LINK: demand substitutes (1,2), production functions (4)] 3:39:17 PM    comment []

"Pilot Error: How Palm Tumbled From Star of Tech To Target of Microsoft", Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2001. With Figure on profits, etc.. and Figure on Palm's market. A related story seems to suggest that Microsoft made the same mistake at Palm in 3Q 2001, "Report: PDA Sales Plunge in Q3 - Waiting for Microsoft?", Wireless NewsFactor, November 5 2001. While most such articles focus solely on how Palm & Pocket PC market share has varied over time, this article also makes an interesting product differentiation point:  "The [Dataquest] study notes that, in the enterprise, Palms are seen as lower-end devices best suited for managing appointments, tasks and contacts while Pocket PC devices have more e-mail capabilities and interact better with both standard and custom office applications." [LINK: dynamic aspects of demand (8), network externalities (7)] 3:38:32 PM    comment []

"Making Fares Fairer Why airline pricing can't be fundamentally changed without an overhaul of industry cost structures.", CFO, September 2002. What does the article suggest regarding whether United's business class fares are in the same market as Frontier's unrestricted fares? [LINK: demand substitutes, supply substitutes (1), self-selection schemes (11), conditions for tacit collusion (14)]   2:17:34 PM    comment []

As you should know, you are not at all required to read these articles for the course 15.010 / 15.011. Please send articles that you find to me (along with any thoughts, etc.. that you want to add in the post) and I will put it up.  Also, this web-log is set up to allow for comments.  So please feel free to share your thoughts with me and other classmates. 2:14:06 PM    comment []