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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mr. Schou, Might I also recommend "The Theory of
Poker" by David Sklansky. I feel certain that it will help with those pesky
analogies.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>gc</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jeffh@moscow.com href="mailto:jeffh@moscow.com">Jeff Harkins</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ophite@gmail.com
href="mailto:ophite@gmail.com">Andreas Schou</A> ; <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, January 26, 2006 8:33
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Free Market
Economics</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Sorry Mr. or Ms. Shoup (I don't know your gender and don't want
to be too familiar) but you need to avail yourself of a good dose of Keynesian
economics.<BR><BR>And you have not come close to describing or demonstrating
an understanding of the WalMart business model.<BR><BR>For a primer, I suggest
" The World Is Flat" by Thomas Friedman.<BR><BR>For advanced reading, look at
some classics economics work by Milton Friedman "Price Theory" and Paul
Samuelson. I also suggest that you peruse the early works by Peter
Drucker (not an economist) and the works by Michael Porter. Porter has a
couple of books that may be very helpful in helping you understand the WalMart
successes. Please look for <I>Competitive Advantage: Creating and
Systaining Competitive Advantage</I> (New York: Free Press, 1985 and
<I>Competitive Strategy Techniques for Analyzing Industries and
Competitors</I> (New York: Free Press, 1980).<BR><BR>I am confident that you
will find the knowledge very enlightening.<BR><BR>Cheers, <BR><BR>At 04:48 PM
1/26/2006, you wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">> You are right about my
confidence in a free market. Perhaps you could give<BR>> me a few
examples where an inferior business beat out a superior one.<BR><BR>Let me
use a poker analogy. If I had a trillion dollars, played poker<BR>for a
living, and won every poker game I played by going "all in" on<BR>every
hand, would I be the best poker player that ever lived? Hint:<BR>no, I would
not.<BR><BR>This is Wal*Mart's business model: saturate the market,
make<BR>monopsonic agreements with suppliers, and run as thin a margin
as<BR>possible in new stores until all the other business goes under.
Is<BR>this a good business strategy? Yes. Does it contribute to
market<BR>efficiency -- which is generally how a "superior business"
is<BR>understood to work? No. It does not.<BR><BR>--
ACS<BR><BR>_____________________________________________________<BR> List
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