Business

Freakonomic Based Real Life Story

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I am a middle man.   I run a business that sells HVAC products and equipment to contractors.   We do not do any retail.

In my world, it is common for the manufacturer of the equipment that I am selling to set up factory direct stores that welcome contractor business.   It makes it interesting, to say the least.   Imagine you are doing your best you can to sell a company’s products, then they set up a store down the street a few blocks and sell directly to your customers.   It may sound weird to some, but it happens all the time in my industry.

We sell service, delivery, no damage, taking care of problems, and basically do everything that the factory direct stores can’t, or won’t.    The relationship is more complex than this, but for this post that is all  I need to  explain about it, as that is the nuts and bolts of it.  

The  huge problem with this situation is that  as a reseller, you  are obviously at a price disadvantage to the factory direct store.   There is only so far you will go with this line.   That is fine with me, you either take it or leave it.   But something interesting happened a few weeks ago.   I received a call that this particular manufacturer was shutting down its operations in my state.   That is awesome news for me.

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Good Karma

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I got slagged like never before in my posts about copyright infringement here and here.   Eventually I came to the realization that I was wrong in my practice, no matter how hard I wanted to justify it.   It killed me, but I decided to stop watching the show through the illegal means.

Well, I see today that one of my favorite networks, Versus, is going to be airing the very show that I never thought I would get to see, Contender Asia.   They will call it Contender Muay Thai over here.   Unfortunately I  know who the eventual winner is,  from my normal surfing in the  Muay Thai and fighting forums.   Sometimes maybe there is good karma to be had.   I can’t wait.

Microsoft

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The Economist recently featured a cover photo of Bill Gates, the Chairman of Microsoft, since he is stepping down from his post and leaving Microsoft. Bill Gates is a larger-than-life figure because of his large foundation and his charitable works. However, while I am far from an expert on his non-work efforts, I do consider myself somewhat of an expert on Microsoft, and that is the focus of this post.

Microsoft has several business segments, as follows (per their most recent earnings release as found on their web site), along with quarterly revenues as follows:

– Client revenues (operating systems, Vista) – $4B
– Servers and tool revenues (Windows server, SQL Server) – $3B
– Online business revenues (MSN, others) – $1B
– Business system revenues (Office, Sharepoint) – $5B
– Entertainment (Xbox, mobile phones) – $2B

Thus the majority of their revenues and vast majority of their profits are from 1) operating systems (Vista), servers & tools (Windows server, SQL Server), and business systems (MS Office).

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The right to a job

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There has been a certain amount of fuss recently over the case of the sued hairdresser. The story is readily available in the MSM so I shall sum it up very quickly indeed. Ms Sarah Desrosiers runs a hairdressing salon in King’s Cross, North London, which specializes, as she puts it, in “funky urban hairstyles”. I am not sure I know what it means but whatever it is the business has been successful. As it happens I know two young women whose hair is always beautifully cut, who had followed Ms Desrosiers when she left the big salon she had worked for and set up her own business.

In other words, we are talking about a talented, hard-working, entrepreneurial young woman of the kind this country needs many more of. Whether we are going to have them after this particular episode remains questionable.

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NFL Economic Bizarro World

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Carl and I have pounded practically everyone we know with the total economic sense shown by Billy Beane, GM of the Oakland Athletics mapped out in the outstanding book Moneyball. If you haven’t read it, you should. The book is a very easy read and quite entertaining even if you are not into baseball. Perfect summer reading.

I don’t want to ruin any of the book for those planning on reading it, but past this point will reveal a few spoilers to help me make a larger point.

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