Hypotheticorp - Latest Comments

Re: First Law of Consumer Behaviour

pprevos — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 03:27:50 -0000

You can rewrite the equation also to say that if you remove all physical posessions from somebody you will know the real self .

Re: First Law of Consumer Behaviour

anfs — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:09:37 -0000

I like your version of the equation rearranged; ideal self - real self = commercial opportunity

Re: The Entrepreneur and the Academic

pprevos — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:33:53 -0000

Post scriptum:

Re: The Entrepreneur and the Academic

Truth Seeker — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:53:33 -0000

Chips and mayo - nice combo

Re: Personality Test

Zain Khalid — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 08:33:22 -0000

Your personality test is weak then the personality tests held by Pakistan army for the selection of army officers

Re: Personality Test

Ritik Rajwani — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:38:24 -0000

Re: Toilet Paper and Consumerism

pprevos — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 19:19:31 -0000

Marketing works in non-comprehensible manners because it appeals to the non-rational aspects of our mind. This is not exploitation of weaknesses, but tapping in to our basic biology.

Re: Toilet Paper and Consumerism

Jubinjacobjohn — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:48:20 -0000

Extremely true ...marketing works in non comprehensible mannerisms...

Re: The Essence of Entrepreneurship

Bert — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:44:23 -0000

merfci beaucoup, tres utile article.

Re: Welcome to the Matrix

Peter Prevos — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:46:03 -0000

Thanks for the kind words.

Just had a quick look at your website - interesting food for thought. I am currently embarking on a PhD research program on the link between business culture and service quality with reference to privatisation of government owned organisations.

Peter

Re: Welcome to the Matrix

Bruce Lewin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 05:02:17 -0000

Very good, an enjoyable read :-)

Re: Personality Test

Peter Prevos — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:32:59 -0000

Thanks for participating Karin. The Forer Index is unlike any personality test ever invented :)

Re: Banner Design

karin merx — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:20:25 -0000

whow, see this for the first time *blush*. Like the site and took the time to read some stuff and I did your *personality* test. Best joke ever:-)

Re: Personality Test

karin merx — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:17:03 -0000

LOL, it was fun to do it for once. Usually I skip those things but he, I know you go the other direction than people think they are going. Fun fun fun

Re: The Essence of Entrepreneurship

Peter Prevos — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:29:20 -0000

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the kind words.

Groeten

Re: The Essence of Entrepreneurship

Frank — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:38:16 -0000

Nice article, helped me a lot with one of my MBA assigments. Quite funny that we both come from the same engineering faculty at Zuyd and now live in Oz.

Re: Women Do Not Make Good Executive Managers

Steve — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:15:10 -0000

Ian,

There's an enormous amount of research in business academia about this topic. Leadership is one of the most studied (and over-studied) areas in management research. Even though I was only exposed to a small amount of that research in business school, your article still covered some pretty well-understood ground and not in a particularly novel (or accurate) way. I don't mean to be critical, because it really is hard to know what has been studied and what hasn't. I succumb to the same problem frequently as a writer.

It is true that ENTJs are much more predisposed to becoming executives, but there are some variables that are difficult to isolate. Is the person on the extreme end of the E, N, T, and J spectra? Is the person the autonomous head of the company like Steve Jobs or just an administrator and liaison to investors? Is the company's success attributable to that executive, a combination of executives, or past executives?

There's no way to say whether an ENTJ is better at being an executive, but it has been well-proven that they are more likely to want to be and be capable of becoming an executive, just because of the structure of the business world.

For objective, well-supported research on gender in business, I strongly recommend you look up Dr. Pat Heim. Here's an intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

The main conclusion is that, due to both physiology and the training society gives her, the AVERAGE woman is less likely to want to become an executive and less likely to be comfortable with the actions required to get there. Of course, most human characteristics are spectra, and there are women who have both the ambition and predisposition to becoming executives. Research that actually measures the performance of female managers (not necessarily executives) vs male managers shows that females are more successful, so a female personality could certainly be an advantage for the women who do climb up the corporate ladder.

Re: Waiter, there is a fly in my soup

Peter Prevos — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 01:28:44 -0000

Re: Customer complaints are a gift

Peter Prevos — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:44:38 -0000

Thanks for your cynical reflections Kevin, maybe you have watched too much Gruen Transfer :)

Any advertising campaign that is purely spin will only be able to win customers in the very short term. having said this, there is no such thing as objective measurement of flavour. Research has shown that contextual variable influence the taste experience - type of cup (Krishna & Morrin 2008), background noise and of course brand perception. If you believe it tastes good, it will taste good.

P.S. The service-recovery paradox requires a separate blog post one day. My favourite services marketing topic.

Peter

Re: Customer complaints are a gift

Kevin de Vries — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 08:56:44 -0000

Peter, while I'm happy to accept the customer service recover paradox - that giving complainers special care will increase sales from those patrons... the hard-hearted cynic in me says that the McDonalds advertisement is spin, spin, spin.

Who says their new recipe is smoother and how as this been objectively measured? Perhaps they changed to a cheaper supplier and are dressing up the flavour change as an improvement.

Of course they retrain their barristas - Gen Y teens with the attention span of a gnat would need constant reprogramming. They never look as though they are enjoying their duties when I see them in Maccas. Training on how to smile might help - but I'm sure you've touched on emotional labour before.

What the advt is really trying to sell is a satisfaction guarantee. They're not the first company to offer that. But what percentage of customers complain when they get a distasteful coffee anyway? It's a bit hard if you've taken it away.

For from being a mea culpa (mea cuppa?) I reckon it's just another angle to get into the minds of consumers.

For a real mea culpa, I liked the Coca-Cola re-launch of Mother.

Re: The end of Americanisation?

Peter Prevos — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 17:27:22 -0000

Thanks Truth Seeker.

Laziness as a driving motivator for consumerism is an interesting concept. The great philosopher Epicurus called this ataraxia - a state of homeostasis that we are all naturally motivated to achieve. Consumerism is driven psychologically and not culturally. Americanisation is not equal to consumerism as this is driven by psychology. Consumerism exists wher and whenever there is surpluses money. Americanisation is about how that consumption is shaped.

Re: The end of Americanisation?

Truth Seeker — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 05:15:39 -0000

Nice article, Peter, but I'm not so sure. As much as American financial dominance is already on the wane, American culture has dominated because of its universally acceptable substance (although the global us marketing machine had also been fantastic.) American culture represents laziness, and is attractive worldwide.

Re: Misdirection in presentations

jerry weissman — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:32:01 -0000

Thanks for your very effective extension of my blog. You are absolutely correct: a presenter cannot and must not attempt to misdirect or deceive an audience. Accountability is all.

However, most presenters in business today, never get to theatricality; they rush through their preparation and delivery and end up being barely coherent. In such cases, the misdirection is more of a misunderstanding of the dynamics of a presentation.

Re: Smile or else ...

Julius — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:44:51 -0000

Great post, it mailed me smile! And I definitely agree.

Re: Smile or else ...

Truth Seeker — Thu, 05 May 2011 10:29:52 -0000

I offer you a genuine :-)