Category: Business

Giving Electronic Books Away Increases Paper Book Sales

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Lessig:

Gray was asked to study the publishing strategy of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in South Africa. This research institution had a traditional strategy of publishing lots of research books, and selling them. Gray convinced them to change their strategy — to give away all their research books for free online, and offer a high quality print-on-demand service for anyone who wants the paper version. The result: “the sales turnover of the publishing department has risen by 300%.” As she concluded her presentation, “giving away books and lead to an increase in our book sales.” There’s much much more in her interesting analysis.

Download the pdf.

Pepsi’s Interesting Mea Culpa

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The company that Don Kendall built and Roger Enrico grew has an interesting PR problem.
Pepsico President Indra Nooyi delivered a controversial commencement speech at Columbia Business School. Pepsi has been backtracking ever since on their corporate website.

I wonder what would have happened to a local truck driver who might have given a similar speech to a High School’s graduating class, or perhaps a mid level manager speaking at a regional business conference? Somehow, I think they would be looking for something else to do. Background on her speech via google. BusinessWeek posted Nooyi’s remarks. Diane Brady refers to Nooyi’s inept analogy.

Sugar Water….

10 Wisconsin Small Businesses & Investor Tax Credits

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Wispolitics:

“I championed legislation to spur more venture capital investment, as it is essential to the state’s economic growth,” Governor Doyle said. “By encouraging investors through tax credits to make these crucial investments – we are helping to turn these great ideas into viable, job-creating businesses.”
The Angel Investor and Venture Fund Tax Credit Programs offer Wisconsin income tax credits to angel investors and investors in seed-stage venture capital funds. These programs are designed to increase the supply of both qualified angel investors and investors in qualified venture capital funds. The tax credits are available only for investments made in technology businesses qualified by Commerce. As Commerce qualifies businesses for investment, it will list them on the Commerce website.

More Wal-Mart Supercenters?

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The Daily Union Editorial Page:

That said, we can’t help but notice that the Daily Union staffers have been receiving more than their fair share of “thank-yous” of late, and particularly since May 3. That was the day we reported that the Jefferson Common Council decided 5-3 to ignore high circulation figures and drop the Daily Union after nearly two decades as the city’s official newspaper. Apparently a lot of our Jefferson readers now want us to know that they, at least, appreciate our efforts. Their pats on the back have felt nice.
Conversely, the stabs from five aldermen who perceive our coverage of municipal meetings as biased and erroneous have not. They’ve pointed, in particular, to one discussion on Wal-Mart in which proponents claim we slanted our front-page story against a SuperCenter being built in Jefferson. We’ve also misinterpreted quotes recorded on tape, they say.

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The Amazing Rise of the Do it Yourself Economy

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Daniel Roth:

It used to be that a tinkerer like Misterovich could, at best, hope to sell his idea to a big company. More likely, he’d entertain friends with his Pez-sized visions. But a number of factors are coming together to empower amateurs in a way never before possible, blurring the lines between those who make and those who take. Unlike the dot-com fortune hunters of the late 1990s, these do-it-yourselfers aren’t deluding themselves with oversized visions of what they might achieve. Instead, they’re simply finding a way—in this mass-produced, Wal-Mart world—to take power back, prove that they can make the products that they want to consume, have fun doing so, and, just maybe, make a few dollars. “What’s happened is a tremendous change in awareness,” says Eric von Hippel, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of the recent Democratizing Innovation. “Conventional wisdom is so strong [in business] about find-a-need-and-fill-it: ‘We’re the manufacturers; we design products; we ask users what they need; we do it.’ That has begun to crack.”

Baker on a Big Three Rebirth?

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Mark Baker:

Today’s Wall Street Journal article provides an overview of today’s Auto industry. It answers the question I’ve been thinking of for a long time — “what is an American Car”. Fully 1/3 of the cars built in North America are Non-Big Three. I’m sure that if they went further and looked at “investment” in new facilities over the past 20 years, it would be even further skewed.

Local Tech Firm Sonic Foundry’s Annual Meeting

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Andrew Wallmeyer summarizes Sonic Foundry’s current state of affairs and provides a useful bit of history in terms of their stock mania and subsequent losses. The tech business can be brutal. We’ll see how SF navigates these waters.

“When you look at the number of tech companies that didn’t make it when the bubble burst, it’s truly amazing that this company was able to get it under control and survive that period,” he said. “The carnage was so absolute.”

If some of this smacks of boosterism, that’s because it is. Aside from their personal financial interest, many of the stockholders at the meeting said they root for Sonic Foundry because they want to see a local company succeed.

“I’ve been up and I’ve been down with the company,” said Hughes, who once watched his Sonic Foundry holdings fall from $100,000 to $1,000. “But it’s nice to be in a Madison company, being from Madison.”