The Missus and I braved the crowds on Friday to go shopping and personally stimulate the economy. Well, actually, we did some returning and exchanging along with some purchasing. Well going form retail store to retail store, I started thinking about the differences in layout and experience, so I had to pick up Underhill’s [...]
Category Archives: Business
Tofu Jerk or Jerk Tofu?
So, my local Caribbean-inspired vegetarian place closed down this week. What about yours?
What? You don’t have a local Caribbean-inspired vegetarian place? Just me? Huh.
As I mentioned in Part 3 of my analysis of the new local coffee place in my neighborhood (Part 1, Part 2), you have to think of your customers, and in my [...]
Posted in Business Tagged Add new tag, Caribbean food, coffee, neighborhood, Peruvian food, Thai, veg 2 Comments
Deconstructing Drivel on Derivatives
If you were to draw a thread through the business articles in last week’s New Yorker, you would think that business is full of toy-loving, outsider psychopaths who dabble in deconstructionism.
That last point about deconstructionism I find offensive. (The rest is probably true.)
In the article likening derivatives to deconstructionism, Lanchester doesn’t do enough to differentiate [...]
Posted in Business Tagged deconstructionism, derivatives, drivel, investing, New Yorker, Warren Buffet 3 Comments
America’s Most Canadian Bank
I can’t find the other vintage banking commercial I wanted. I wanted to find commercials of Julia Louis Dreyfus pitching Commerce Bank and all their customer-friendly features.
It was a good campaign that started around 2003-04, when Commerce expanded into NYC. Here is a list of those customer-friendly features from their Wikipedia page:
7 day lobby or [...]
Posted in Business Tagged banking, branding, Canada, Commerce Bank, commercials, customer experience, TD Bank Leave a comment
“Flexible Lending Rules”
Remember this commercial?
Yeah, it was easy to get a home loan. So, what ever happend to Washington Mutual?
A few more posts on banks forthcoming.
Nervous much?
I walked into my new job knowing that the company I was working for had just let go of 20% of its workforce. Then the market did this:
However, none of this worries me too much. The way I figure it, I should hopefully have at least a year of employment guaranteed, maybe less.
Yet, now that [...]
IKEA response
So, in response to my nasty letter to IKEA, IKEA responded thusly:
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
At IKEA, every effort is made to ensure the quality of our products,
as well as our service. In reviewing the information that has been
provided in your e-mail, we do understand that you were not satisfied
with [...]
IKEA woes.
Last week, the missus and I went to IKEA in Brooklyn, and I had such an awful experience, I actually wrote them a note. I think I do this once every two years, so you can imagine how bad it was. Here’s the note:
Dear IKEA,
After my experience visiting the Brooklyn IKEA twice over [...]
Coffee Analysis, Pt. 3: Cross-Sell
“Cross-sell” is one of those b-school terms for something that fancies up a simple idea: Sell more. So, if you go to the movie theater, they “cross-sell” you popcorn. If you go to the coffee shop with the limited menu in my neighborhood, they cross-sell you . . . nothing. [...]
Coffee Analysis, Pt. 2: Projections and Investors
So, today, I went to the new coffee shop, asked for a capauccino, and they were out of espresso beans.
Really? Can’t keep inventory this soon in your life? That’s no good.
While I was there, it looked like some investors came in to talk to the manager-type. I could tell this because they [...]
Coffee Analysis, Pt. 1: Market
So, just before we left for Italy, a new coffee shop called “Variety” opened up in my neighborhood.
Normally, a new coffee shop would be a good thing, but I can’t help but think this place is DOOMED.
First off, all they offer is coffee, OJ, pastry, and soda. “Variety”? Really?
Secondly, they are surrounded by [...]
Italian Commercials: George Clooney is magnifico, but DayGum is kinda racist
While I was in Italy, there were two commercials that I found interesting for different reasons.
The first was this great commercial for Martini with George Clooney:
The combination of 1930s styling, the end joke, and the Clooney really struck a chord with me. So much so, that I thought I would get some in duty [...]
Paging, Mr. Murdoch. Here’s a killer show idea.
Since I’ve been at home a lot and not working on any of my goals, I’ve been watching the best show on television: Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares on BBC.
Here’s the jist: Gordon Ramsay goes into failing restaurants and helps turn them around. This usually entails getting people to understand that people won’t come [...]
Posted in Business Tagged b-school, Fox, Gordon Ramsay, Kitchen Nightmares, Murdoch, television, turnaround 2 Comments
Stockout is not a destination
So, I bought my Wii. I stood in line at the Nintendo Store before it opened to make sure that I could get one. I was told you had to do this.
The same week I bought my Wii, I went to a GameStop at night to buy a new game for my Wii. [...]
Pimping business plans
I’m spending the day at school competing in a business plan competition.
For those readers still in textbook space, here’s the idea:
Nifty, huh?
UPDATE: I didn’t win. Very sad.