Competition

A 24-year-old made $345,000 by beating Kickstarters to market

by dldamore

A 24-year-old made $345,000 by beating Kickstarters to market:

“You can talk to economists that are 60-years-old and they’ll tell you, ‘Oh, yeah, if you open up a business you should aim to be profitable within 18 months,” says Jack. ‘None of that is relevant anymore. You can be profitable within four days.”

*The Internet enables ideas and dreams to take hold. Competition, no holds barred, can come from anywhere.

WSJ: Drugmakers Find Competition Doesn’t Keep a Lid on Prices

by dldamore

Drug price increases will likely bring more regulation in the future. In the short run that is probably not the case. The balance of power in Washington can change very quickly. 

 

Drugmakers Find Competition Doesn’t Keep a Lid on Prices

*Link may be behind the Wall Street Journal paywall. Try pasting the title in a Google Search

http://www.wsj.com/articles/drugmakers-find-competition-doesnt-keep-a-lid-on-prices-1480248003

 

“The two companies, though rivals, followed a common industry practice: raising prices almost in lockstep.”

 

““You’re not rewarded for having a low price and for the most part, the market doesn’t punish a high price,” says Mick Kolassa”

 

“The freedom to raise, rather than slash, prices in the face of competition is a big reason why U.S. prescription-drug spending has surged by close to 10% on average annually in recent years to $310 billion in 2015”

 

“Tandem drug-price increases for other ailments have prompted lawmakers to call for investigations into potential collusion.”

 

“Tandem increases can be perfectly legal, so long as companies don’t confer with each other, says Herbert Hovenkamp”

 

“In compliance training, companies tell employees not to discuss pricing with rivals. But when it comes to drugs, list prices are public.”

 

““Any profit-optimizing company is going to want to get as much price as they can get,””

 

 

 

Shifting Consumer Options

by dldamore

How Google Plans to Take Down Amazon’s Echo (EXCLUSIVE)

To Google, the Echo isn’t just another speaker. It’s part of a bigger move away from text- and app-based interfaces that require users to seek out information to voice-based systems that offer more natural interaction. In other words: It’s what’s next after Google’s search bar — and it’s made by a competitor.

*Competing in a time of great change. 

Got a Hot Seller on Amazon? Prepare for E-Tailer to Make One Too – Bloomberg

by dldamore

Got a Hot Seller on Amazon? Prepare for E-Tailer to Make One Too – Bloomberg: “Rain Design’s experience shows how Amazon is using insights gleaned from its vast Web store to build a private-label juggernaut that now includes more than 3,000 products”

*Competition sometimes comes from unexpected places. The retailer is closer to the customer and owns a direct relationship that is hard for a manufacturer to compete with. Think of it as the middleman cutting out the supplier.

Media Culture Shifts: theory vs. reality

by dldamore

Media Culture Shifts: theory vs. reality:

Regardless of upper management’s determination, you’ll never be able to steer a century-old company the way a young startup adjusts to changing circumstances, whether it’s explosive growth or adverse events.

(Via Monday Note)

Old firms are like big cruise ships, it’s hard for them to change direction and make maneuvers rapidly. Speed and direction changes are two of the things that new firms (typically) have as strengths for dealing with changing market realities.