The green issue and the prisioners dilema

Imagine you want to buy a data center … you have a choice of 3 suppliers, all things being equal and above board, you will choose the supplier that provides the best kit and service for the lowest cost,.
simple?
no.

If you look at it from an entirely fiscal point of view, which ever supplier has the lowest cost has an advantage in winning the business, as they can provide a lower cost to their customer. But thats bloody obvious I hear you yelling. What stops one of our suppliers from behaving like a right bastard, abusing their work force and the environment? The answer is the state with its threat of the judiciary which representing us individuals and the other suppliers can remove that suppliers competitive advantage and even freedom. Overall everyone is forced to co-operate and by and by everyone more or less wins, in the places where the judiciary has the ability to impose its will.

Game theory describes situations like this as “The prisoners dilemma” the prisoners who default are the bad suppliers, and if everyone behaves (both prisoners and guards) then every one wins

Now apply this logic to the global green issue and climate change. Whichever country that pollutes has a commercial advantage because they have lower costs … but … on a global scale there is no real judiciary except the western military which is not powerfull enough to enforce fair play across the entire problem domain therefore the only state that the world can adopt is the Pareto-suboptimal solution. I.e. all nations default, and we allow the environment to collapse.

Connecting with your retail customers

If your retail business is built on personal relationships, and referral sales, how do you compete with companies who are exploiting the new long tail market?

The answer is simple, do what you have always done. Build real relationships between real people, but instead of limiting this to the show room, use the new communication tools.
imagine this ….

• you search for a “samgung whatever”
• you get presented with a link or placement for store
• you follow it to the catalogue and get presented with the standard picture and blurb
• however …
• a little box appears on the page with a photo of a real person saying “talk to Geoff about the samsung whatever?”
• the users click yes and …
• A chat window appears, then they are really talking to Geoff who can then perform the same sales behaviour that he would normally do in the store.

This can very quickly and easily be achieved, Ive seen a few sites do this for hosting, or high value products and it works really well. One guy I chatted to like this said, “Hey why dont I call you?” and we had a good chat about the various servers he had on offer.

using free products such as xmpp.

From what I gather traditional retail buisness is about people, and are therefore going for the repeat or referal business through establishment of personal relationships between customers and the sales team.

Instead of floor walkers, employ forum walkers.