FranTerActive Web 3.0 Publications - New Content

New FranTerActive Tech Strategy Framework: Platform-Services Innovation Map and Cash Cow Business Models

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:45:00 EST

In the following tech strategy framework recently published by FranTerActive, what is posited on the left is the emergence of a dominant product design sometime around the intersection of the product and process innovation curves. This is intuitive, since a company initially focuses on building a core product out to market, and there is usually a lot of innovation around the product, until a dominant design emerges. Around that time, the rate of innovation at the business process level usually is on the rise, and this is depicted by the graph on the left, where the two blue hills of the product and process innovation charts intersect:

Similarly, what you see on the right hand side above are two curves depicting the rates of innovation at the technology platform level and at the services level respectively, as functions of time. The point in time where they intersect is also the time around which business focus has to shift from creating the world's best platform to servicing the customers who are using the platform. At this point in time, the rate of services innovation is still increasing even as the rate of platform innovation is on the decline.

What this platform-services innovation map depicts is a practical truth: before a business starts making boatloads of cash, it has to innovate its platform to a sufficient commercially optimized level, and also has to start working on its services as well. In a nutshell, cash-cow businesses now a days are not only about products or platforms, they are also about services.

Listen to the podcast / download the corresponding MP3 file to learn more about ongoing platform battlegrounds ranging from social networking (Facebook / MySpace) to smart mobile handhelds (Google Android / Apple iPhone), and how the cash-cow business model evolves at the cusp of platform and service innovation...

2010 May 10th FRANCONOMICS.COM Podcast - Unemployment jumps to 9.9%, 4 million homes in foreclosure, etc.

Mon, 10 May 2010 16:22:00 EST

We continue our coverage of Main Street Financial Economics with this latest FRANCONOMICS.COM podcast:

Dismal Housing Numbers: Foreclosures will jump from 1 in 73 homes last year to 1 in 33 homes this year. Number of vacant homes have jumped five fold in last 3 years --- from 2.7% to 15% of all homes.

Unemployment Jumps To 9.9%: Even as the economy added 290,000 jobs in April, unemployment went up from 9.7% to 9.9%. Official unemployment in California is 12.6%. Using our franconomics.com multiplier of 1.6, we have 16% actual full-time unemployment in America and 20% actual full-time unemployment in California. In other words, one in six Americans is not working at all, and one in five Californians is idling.

Recent stock market correction of 10%: Just as selling into rallies is good cashing out, buying while everyone else panicks and sells is good stock-picking strategy.

Everyone clapped when Tim Clark won his first PGA tour event in 206 tries. In fact, people were clapping for other golfers too, as they were putting well, chipping well, driving well, and ironing well. And when Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein did "GOD's Work" on the Charlie Rose show in the aftermath of Goldman being taken to the courts by SEC for fraud, we clapped for him too. After all, he resembled a circus clown for waxing eloquent on how Goldman is a market maker, how the firm could be buying a stock and selling the stock at the same time, kind of similar to how the same stock gets bought and sold simultaneously on NYSE. Way to go Mr. Blankfein! Also, what happened to your Godly promises that you won't pay any bonus in 2009 to your employees: looks like you pocketed $9 million yourself as your 2009 bonus. Isn't that our money, the taxpayer's bailout money? Uggh...

Listen to this latest podcast from FRANCONOMICS.COM and stay up to date with what is really happening in Main Street...

Agile Product Strategy: Pull, Don't Just Push

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:45:00 EST

This framework builds on the Architectural Innovation framework (reproduced in the diagram below on the top left hand side). The framework TECHNOLOGY PUSH vs. MARKET PULL shows how having an agile product strategy in terms of courting a continuously changing product architecture can be a recipe for survival in the competitive marketplace for high-tech products, services, solutions, and platforms:

What is depicted above is a fact about human lethargy / inertia, as seen in many older, comfortable, bureaucratic, myopic high-tech firms. Frequently, the "technologists" in such organizations draw comfort from a stable product architecture and have a tunnel vision that innovation can happen only at the product "components" level. Consequently, they keep pushing their R&D and associated business / product development activities along the blue arrow as depicted above. Relying on this kind of technology push can be dangerous to the business; competitors / new entrants can upset the status quo by flooding the market with products / solutions which have newer product architectures. Sometimes, these moves by new entrants can take the form of technology invasions, as we have shown in a prior podcast.

Try this Business Mantra: Pull, don't just Push. If you can push your technology, or your products along the direction of market pull, as depicted by the red arrows above, then no one will be able to disrupt you! This is agile product strategy, this is true product innovation. Also, how can you look beyond product innovation into process innovations? In other words, how can you use the above framework to make your business processes leaner? Listen to the podcast / download the accompanying mp3 file to learn more...

Architectural Innovation - A FranTerActive Tech Strategy Podcast

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:55:00 EST

What is presented below is a pioneering framework, first articulated by Henderson and Clark in a research paper on "Architectural Innovation." The framework posits that where as firms love to introduce innovations along the blue arrow (from incremental to granular), for their core competencies are built along well set "product architectures," they frequently ignore the architectural dimension of replacing older architectures with newer ones, as represented by the red arrow below:

The above framework suggests that incremental innovations and even a progressive innovation from incremental to granular along the blue arrow reinforces the core competencies, where as jumping across the comfort zone and going for "architectural innovation" along the red arrow above can destroy a firm's core competencies! Why? For "engineers" and "designers" do recognize when a new design at the component level hits the market. Whenever that happens, they consider that to be a "radical innovation," because they try to come up with better, cheaper, newer, faster, sleeker, smaller components themselves. Frequently, R&D departments within established firms focus on this, i.e., the blue arrow. Since a radical innovation incorporates that, i.e., newer components, a firm does not fail to notice this when it happens, or as it keeps happening; i.e., as better / cheaper / faster / sleeker / smaller / newer components incorporated within a similar product hit the market. However, if a firm is focused only on new components, new designs, overturning core design concepts, it can miss if an "architectural innovation" hits the market. Moreover, as per our framework above, a truly radical innovation is one which has not only newly designed components, but which also incorporates a new product architecture.

In other words, an architectural innovation is more subtle; no new component designs have been introduced; or the core design concepts underlying the components which go into making a product have not been overturned! This can be dangerous to an incumbent, if introduced by a new competitor, because it is a new product innovation. It is "outside the box" of thinking for an established firm, which is set in its ways in terms of building core competencies along the old, stable, established, product architecture. Hence, an architectural innovation being cooked outside your firm can be dangerous to your existing business, if business leaders in your firm are not aware that innovation can happen along this dimension, i.e., along the red arrow in the above framework. To learn more, please listen to the accompanying podcast. This framework is built on top of two older tech strategy frameworks: Dominant Designs, and S-Curves... Listen to the podcast / download the accompanying mp3 file to learn more...

FranTerActive Open Strategy Portal - Technology Invasion

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:55:00 EST

The tech strategy model below depicts a disruptive technology which begins its trajectory of technology invasion at point D. We have placed two baseline frameworks, with which you all must be familiar, if you have used this Open Strategy Portal before: S-Curves and the Ansoff Matrix. In particular, we have placed points A, C, and D from the model with the corresponding points on the familiar S-Curves framework:

When the invasive technology has a gap in terms of performance output from the technology and what is demanded by the existing market (at time T1), the businesses selling the existing technology see no threat from the invasion. But what if the invasive technology is able to become a successful business by courting lead users and creating a new niche market, and make it to point B, where it is able to meet the existing market demand (at time T2)? Typically, it starts taking market share from the older stagnating / mature technology because of its better price / performance metrics... To learn more about this technology strategy model, associated concepts like lead users, and its applications to current technologies / products (iPad, Google Buzz), listen to the associated podcast...

Dominant Designs and Technology Cycles

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:55:00 EST

If you have listened to our podcast on S-Curves, you are already familiar with terms like Technology ferment, take-off, and mature / stagnate. However, before a technology is productized / servitized and takes off in the market-place, there is fierce competition, and eventually a dominant design emerges, as depicted in the following technology cycle.

So, what is a "dominant design?" What might intrigue you, and what the holy grail of product marketing truly is, is this concept called "Dominant Design." Why can your business model be shaky, if you package a product / service around a technology which does not have "dominant design" writtern all over it? Are there exceptions to this rule? Read more by clicking on the link above, where you you will find a link to the associated podcast. Alternately, click on the link to the mp3 file below to download the podcast directly. Enjoy, it is only 32 minutes long!

Franteractive Strategy Portal - Should Building Platforms Be Your Next Technology Strategy?

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:55:00 EST

A platform strategy, as opposed to old-fashioned product strategy in terms of products and services, requires an external ecosystem to generate complementary innovations. As a result, "iterative feedbacks" between the complements and the platform help the technology / product underneath the platform increase its potential for growth and innovation at a rate unmatched by single firms trying to innovate alone! Click on the link above to learn more...

FRANCONOMICS.COM - 2009 Dec 20th Podcast - Uselessness of Think Tanks, 50% Tax on Banks Paying Bonus in the UK and France, etc.

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:05:00 EST

This penultimate FRANCONOMICS.COM podcast on Financial Economics for Calendar Year 2009 delves into the following:

Wall Street flushed with cash even as homelessness (foreclosures) and unemployment keeps rising: United Kingdom and France are taxing the bonus of bankers earning at least $41,000 or more (this is the approximate lower limit of bonus amounts that will be taxed in UK, data for France is as yet unknown) in bonus in 2009 at 50%. Albeit, the banks are paying this tax, not the bankers individually. So, why are we not doing the same with Goldman and other banks? Specifically, it is well known that Goldman has set aside more than $16 billion for bonus payments in 2009. If we tax it at even 50% and get $8 billion back, it will be covering some ground on the $13 billion that the US Taxpayers lost in terms of the AIG handout to Goldman last year…

Think Tanks like CATO Keep Peddling “Greed” and “Deregulation”: One of the overlooked constituents amongst Thought Leaders responsible for the crisis include many Think Tanks of Washington DC. We analyze the CATO institute, whose slogan “Individual Liberty, Free Markets, and Peace” is nothing but a clever camouflage of what Milton “Mr. Greed” Friedman preached all his life: Capitalism, Individual Liberty, Free Markets, and “Greed.” We expose a briefing paper from CATO on the Financial Crisis which claims that “Greed” is not to be blamed for the Financial Meltdown, since it is a “constant;” and neither should deregulation like the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act), for it allowed BofA to acquire Merrill, and JP Morgan Chase to acquire Bear Stearns. In fact, the GLB Act is the reason why “too big to fail” banks like Goldman and JP Morgan Chase are now bigger than before and more monopolistic --- any kind of monopoly is bad for the ultimate consumer --- the American taxpayer. The CATO institute, a parking place for free riding elitists calling themselves “libertarians” also gives away half-a-million dollars every alternate year in the form of a Milton Friedman prize for advancing liberty.

Since Americans can’t own a home without getting foreclosed, should the new American Dream be centered around something more than what one can own? In the banking world, Greed rules the roost today. So, is there any scope for the average American to be compassionate, less greedy, and more caring towards fellow humans? In fact, is the American Dream changing: It is not what I own, but what I am? Listen to this eye-opening podcast and find out…

FranTerActive.net - Strategy Portal - New Content - Loss Leaders and its Application to the EDS / Perot Systems Acquisition by HP / Dell

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:35:00 EST

For firms like Dell and HP, an effective strategy should involve outsourcing / brain-sourcing. For example, India's IIM graduates can do strategy consulting related number-crunching when it comes to Strategy Consulting Time and Material billing, reducing the pricing for up-front consulting engagements through Perot Systems and EDS, respectively. Further, IT systems implementation, which would require selling the hardware (Dell systems and HP computers respectively) coupled with designing / implementing associated software, can be broken down into products and services. Services can again be implemented through "outsourcing" to countries like India / Russia, which offer cheaper programming options. Thus, these firms will be able to charge full-blown pricing for their products, provided they follow a loss-leader strategy (which can be sweetened by building capabilities like number crunching in off-shore locations using brains equivalent to top-tier MBA talent here), coupled with IT off-shoring. Thus, the value-chain can involve loss-leading strategy consulting, coupled with full-priced products and off-shored services... If you don't know what Loss Leaders are, and to more examples of Loss Leaders, click on the link above and/or read more...

FRANCONOMICS.COM PODCAST - DECEMBER 2009

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 09:05:00 EST

This irregular podcast dated Dec 7, 2009 from FRANCONOMICS.COM scrutinizes the following:

The recent US treasury announcement that the TARP program would cost $200 billion less: we ask the Congress to pass legislation to tax the bonus of Goldman (scheduled to pay $16 billion in bonus this year) and other banks at 100% and pull it back into the US Treasury: of course this is a pipe dream, considering the fact that all the major Investment banks are big time campaign financiers for ALL politicians, and because of the elitism that prevails in Capitalistic America where star journalists who get compensated in millions tout “CAPITLISM,” etc. etc. The podcast urges the listener not to buy the book from Hank Paulson, the architect of the 700 billion dollar TARP program… Rather, the listener should buy the podcaster's upcoming book, “The 20 Trillion Dollar Value Drain: How Goldman and Other Banks Looted America, And Why They Would Do It Again. ”
The downward move in the official unemployment rate from 10.2% to 10%: this still translates to 25% real unemployment for All Americans. Also some ethnic groups are suffering, e.g., there is 50% unemployment amongst African American Teenagers.
The American Recovery and Re-investment Act programs like the $8000 tax-credit (now extended to Spring and Summer of 2010), up to $6500 tax-credit for move-up buyers; and the extension programs for COBRA health care coverage for the unemployed (currently ending for some Californians). However, how about subsidies for the renters, for the long-term uninsured. It seems that the poor always get the raw-end of the stick: the renter who can't buy a home and get the credit, the poor who can't afford health insurance, and the teenager who has to peddle drugs since he can't get a job!
The Pecora-II investigation headed by Phil Angelides: is 1200 interviews enough??

FRANCONOMICS.COM Black Friday Podcast

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 23:35:00 EST

This is an irregular podcast on the eve of Black Friday, when unemployment officially went past 10%. Officially, it is now at 10.2%, even as pundits keep saying that the economy is out of the recession. In this episode, we look at the marketplace with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing back and staying above 10,000. A lot of this podcast is educational, and we throw light on conservative investment strategies like writing covered calls, selling into the stock market rallies, monitoring other investment instruments like gold, etc. We also analyze real-estate prices in two locations: SFO Bay Area and Boston, MA; with an eye on real-estate investing nationwide. We conclude the podcast by hinting at Systemic Risk and why it has increased --- banks like Goldman are bigger and meaner --- unless sweeping regulation is enacted swiftly by the Congress, these banks will keep devising new ways of looting Americans...

11 October, 2009 - Irregular Podcast from FRANCONOMICS.COM

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:45:00 EST

In this irregular podcast dated October 11th, 2009, we introduce new Congressional hearings and other relevant sound bites (including the barely audible TARP COP report for the month of October by Elizabeth Warren), interspersed with the FRANCONOMICS.COM analysis:

1. US has gone from being the largest Creditor to become the largest Debtor Nation, with National Debt well over of $11 trillion --- part of it is of course in TARP / TALF / pPiP which bailed out a few thousand Wall Street bankers at the cost of 300 million Americans. Do we need SIGNIFICANT CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM?

2. Federal Reserve has been loading up on Toxic Waste sugar-coated as Legacy Assets… listen into Congressman Grayson grilling the Inspector General of the Federal Reserve and quizzing Fed Chairman Bernanke; and our analysis … we need a REALLY STRONG AUDIT OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE.

3. Our presentation and analysis of the October TARP COP report by Elizabeth Warren: Foreclosures have worsened in the last 6 months. One in eight mortgages is now in foreclosure / default. Each foreclosure costs lenders like Freddie / Fannie to the tune of $120,000. This money ultimately comes from taxpayers like you and me.

4. Analysis of the newly formed Financial Enquiry Commission headed by Phil Angelides, who was no match for Arnold Schwarzenegger in the California Gubernatorial Elections. 5 of the other 9 members are Democrats, and 4 are Republicans.

5. We also give our two cents on the stock market moving up; Dow has closed with a new yearly high. (Disclaimer: Analysis / Recommendation is not investment advice. What you invest / buy / sell is at your own risk.)

While unemployment is pushing 15 million (more like 25 million are really unemployed), and while foreclosures are scheduled to top 12 million households, Fed Chairman Bernanke keeps saying that “we are out of the recession.” Instead of taking cash bonus, should the bankers be forced to pocket bonus in terms of toxic waste which they helped create? Are we being DEEPLY ROBBED by the Plutocracy / Oligarchy that is Wall Street + Washington? How long should we let our tax dollars fund the gas bills (and the bonus and the Swiss bank accounts) of the bankers driving the Lamborghinis? Listen to this eye-opening podcast to find out…

FRANCONOMICS.COM Irregular Podcast - 23rd September, 2009

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:00:00 EST

In this irregular podcast dated September 23rd, 2009, we introduce and analyze the following sound bites / dialogues:

1. Secretary Geithner defending ex-Goldman CEOs / employees working for the US Treasury as deeply honorable men. He also claims that the jobs all these ex-Goldman employees did was complex, for it required complex negotiations with banks etc. However, it is common sense (and also there is great public mistrust) that these folks would not (and did not) take the side of Main Street. Certainly, from our prior podcasts where we have quoted Congressmen ripping Hank Paulson apart on this, it is clear that Congress now regrets passing the 700 billion dollar TARP, which went to "Paulson's Banker buddies"...

2. When the 700 billion dollars were being cooked by Hank Paulson as TARP (of which Goldman eventually got $22.9 billion --- $10 billion directly and $12.9 billion through AIG), there were many opinions as to how the taxpayers' money should be given. Since Warren Buffett had invested $5 billion during those times with Goldman Sachs for preferred stock, let's listen in to what Warren Buffett would have done / how Buffett would have negotiated with these banks, as per one Senate Banking Committee Economist (needless to say, nothing like this happened)...

3. If the CEOs / executives of financial firms deliberately set out to make bad loans / liars loans / NINJA loans (as per a S&L regulator Professor Bill Black, on the Bill Moyer's Journal), where is the Pecora II Investigation? Should we not be investigating these specialty lenders (such as Indy Mac) as a bottom-up investigation approach. Some of those loan specialists who sold these liars loans are jobless today, and would willingly co-operate. All we have to do is ask them...

4. Professor Black: Secretary Geithner is covering up, just like Secretary Paulson did before... This is a serious charge, and is all the more reason a Pecora II needs to get started ASAP (as soon as possible). Also, even though Geithner has gone on record saying that he was never a regulator (we play the sound bite), as per NewYorkFed.org, one of the jobs of the FED is to supervise and regulate depository institutions. Also listen to Prof. Black on how / why Paulson (and Geithner) ignored the LAW OF PROMPT CORRECTIVE ACTION...

5. Also listen in to Obama's speech urging the congress to pass the 700 billion TARP program, after it failed to pass the floor of the Congress: A package has not yet passed... Get this done... Even as you get it done to stabilize the markets, we have more work to do to make sure that Main Street is getting the same kind of help as Wall Street is getting...... This is followed by some FRANCONOMICS.COM questions to the current administration...

Are we in the middle of an ETHICAL and MORAL CRISIS? Where is our PECORA II? Where is the Investigation? What are we doing to find out why this happened? When will some of the culprits behind the crisis be put in jail? Don't give up, listen to the podcast...

FRANTERACTIVE.NET - Cash in Gas - Podcast as a Socratic Dialogue

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:35:00 EST

In this podcast, Sam Mishra, the author of Strategic Case Analysis: Business Concepts, Strategy Frameworks, and Solved Cases as Socratic Dialogues, takes the role of the CEO (or Interviewer), and Payat assumes the role of the Consultant, as he goes about solving this tough problem-mix the CEO faces: increasing sales but declining profits in some gas stations in spite of galloping gas prices (the case is set in 2006 / 2007, when gas prices were going through the roof); and declining gasoline revenue but increased profits in other stores! The case is touched upon to a sufficient extent in the Franteractive Strategy Portal FranTerActive.Net, and is fully solved in the aforementioned book (and in this podcast).

In the podcast, the author announces his second book: The 20 Trillion Dollar Value Drain: How Goldman and Other Banks Looted America and Why They Will Do It Again, which is an outgrowth of his published articles and weekly podcasts on FRANCONOMICS.COM. We also break this important news:STRATEGIC CASE ANALYSIS (ISBN-13: 978-0-9798-354-0-7) is now a prescribed text-book in UNLV - University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a large accredited University in the United States. The book, nonetheless, can also be a great refresher business book for practicing business owners and start-up CEOs. In addition to theoretical frameworks like the Porter’s Five Forces, the Five C’s, etc., the book also contains practical frameworks like the Pareto Negotiation Frontier, Relational Contracts, NPV (Net Present Value) & CAPM (Capital Assets Pricing Model), and the VALS-2 Segmentation in the Advanced Frameworks Section. Most of these frameworks have immediate application not only in business, but also in handling your day-to-day human relationships, so buy the book today from Amazon.com.

Listen to this Socratic Dialogue to understand how the high-flying consultant effortlessly solves this tough case while giving all the credit to the CEO (as it should be, if you want that job in a CASE INTERVIEW setting) and thunders towards the end of this Socratic Dialogue: YOU HAVE JUST LAID THE STRATEGY TO INCREASE REVENUE, INCREASE GROSS PROFITS, INCREASE PROFITABILITY, DECREASE COSTS, AND KEEP THE TOTAL HEAD-COUNT UNCHANGED. I DON'T THINK THERE IS A BETTER CORPORATE STRATEGY, EVEN BY THE BOOK!

FRANCONOMICS.COM - Podcast - 18th Sep 2009

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:00:00 EST

In this irregular podcast dated September 18th, 2009, we introduce and analyze the following sound bites / dialogues:

1. A lady asking Larry Summers about regulating these banks who have returned the money fast so that they could escape the comp czar, and Summers' response.

2. TARP COP (Congress Oversight Panel) Chairwoman quizzing Secretary Geithner about the conversations between the AIG counterparties (like Goldman Sachs, though the name is not explicitly mentioned in her questioning) and the US Treasury prior to the AIG bailout...Geithner responds that it was more complex than just helping the counterparties, it was about all the others who were insured...We also introduce a Q&A between Congressman Dennis Kucinich and AIG CEO Mr. Liddy which shows, for example, that some of these small time insured --- policemen, firemen, teachers in Ohio --- were short-shafted by AIG, even as counterparties like Goldman were paid 12.9 billion dollars through the AIG bailout...

3. Congressmen Stearns and Quigley quizzing Hank Paulson, the man behind the TARP program, the man who got the ethics waiver from the then White House so that he could talk more than 20 times with Goldman CEO (Hank was the CEO of Goldman immediately before becoming the US Treasury Secretary in 2006) prior to the AIG bailout (these conversations were what Warren was referring to in the dialogue with Geithner, which Geithner dodged well)... Stearns quizzes him strongly about the CONFLICT OF INTEREST, and Quigley quizzes him about MORAL HAZARD (in the context of letting Lehmann, Goldman's competitor fail)...

When we go around the country from Boston to Bay Area, people say that nothing will happen --- the talk has moved on to Health Care --- however, as we explain in this podcast, everyone, including Geithner and Summers, is looking up to the Congress for regulation. As that happens, it behooves the Congress to call entities like the CEO of Goldman and ask him what transpired between him and Hank Paulson prior to the AIG bailout. It also behooves the Obama administration to get the Pecora II investigation started ASAP...

We also introduce Sam Mishra's upcoming book…THE 20 TRILLION DOLLAR VALUE DRAIN: HOW GOLDMAN AND OTHER BANKS LOOTED AMERICA AND WHY THEY WILL DO IT AGAIN... and we also give our two cents on where the Stock Markets are headed. Listen in to enjoy, appreciate, and support this ongoing battle with those who looted us...And spread the word, for they are already doing it as you listen in...Goldman has announced close to 12 billion in bonus payments for 2009!

MP3 Podcast - Greener California Case on High-speed Railroading between LA and SFO Solved as a Socratic Dialogue

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:35:00 EST

In this podcast, Sam Mishra, the author of Strategic Case Analysis: Business Concepts, Strategy Frameworks, and Solved Cases as Socratic Dialogues, takes the role of the Consultant (or Student), and Jay assumes the role of the Client (or Teacher), as they go about solving the Greener California business case. The case is touched upon to a sufficient extent in the Franteractive Strategy Portal FranTerActive.Net, and is fully solved in the aforementioned book.

In the podcast, the author also announces that STRATEGIC CASE ANALYSIS (ISBN-13: 978-0-9798-354-0-7) is now a prescribed text-book in UNLV - University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a large accredited University in the United States. The book, nonetheless, can also be a great refresher business book for practicing business owners. In addition to theoretical frameworks like the Porter’s Five Forces, the Five C’s, etc., the book also contains practical frameworks like the Pareto Negotiation Frontier, Relational Contracts, NPV, and the VALS-2 Segmentation in the Advanced Frameworks Section. These later frameworks have immediate application not only in business, but also in handling your day-to-day human relationships!

Listen to this Socratic Dialogue to appreciate the fact that business cases typically don't have a right or a wrong answer. Also, this is a case on profitability, and in the course of the dialogue, the particiants touch upon a lot of standard business concepts: the Pareto 80-20 rule, the Second Mover's Advantage, Sunk Costs, etc.

Franteractive Strategy Portal Case - Canning Coke Cans -Solved as a Socratic Dialogue(MP3 Podcast)

Fri, 4 Sep 2009 11:35:00 EST

In this podcast, Sam Mishra, the author of Strategic Case Analysis: Business Concepts, Strategy Frameworks, and Solved Cases as Socratic Dialogues, takes the role of the Consultant, and Jay assumes the role of the Client (Coca-Cola), as they go about solving the Canning Coke Cans business case. The case is touched upon to a sufficient extent in the Franteractive Strategy Portal FranTerActive.Net, and is fully solved in the aforementioned book.

In the podcast, the author also announces that the book is now a prescribed text-book in UNLV - University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a large accredited University in United States.

Listen to this Socratic Dialogue to appreciate the fact that solving ANY business problem requires giving the needed attention to the pertinent details…

FranTerActive.Net MP3 Podcast - Audiophile Speaker Mfg Business Case Solved as a Socratic Dialogue

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 11:35:00 EST

In this podcast, Sam Mishra, the author of Strategic Case Analysis: Business Concepts, Strategy Frameworks, and Solved Cases as Socratic Dialogues, takes the role of the Consultant, and Jay assumes the role of the Client, representing the Audiophile Speaker Manufacturing business. The client has a business problem: its sale is seasonal, peaking prior to Thanksgiving / Christmas retail sales. Its customers, who are brand names ranging from Cerwin Vega to Niles Audio to Acoustic Research, have to place their products in retail chains like Best Buy and Circuit City by Mid-November. Frequently, to meet these deadlines, the client is forced to air-ship from India to USA.

This seemingly simple business problem has a lot of complexities underneath it, ranging from supply chain bottlenecks in China to sales forecasting in USA. The consultant finds out about these problems by engaging the client in a Socratic Dialogue. Once the consultant unearths the major problems, it proposes the solutions as part of this dialogue.

In the podcast, the author also announces that the book is now a prescribed text-book in UNLV - University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a large accredited University in United States.

Listen to this Socratic Dialogue to appreciate solving a business case at its analytical best. In the process, you will also learn about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) / sales forecasting, supply chain automation / lean manufacturing, shipping container loads by sea vis-à-vis air-shipping, the Pareto 80-20 rule (as opposed to the Pareto Negotiation Frontier), etc.

Podcast from Franconomics.com - 26th Aug 2009

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EST

In this regular podcast dated August 26th, 2009, we begin by touching the sad news that Senator Ted Kennedy passed away here in Boston. The podcast covers the the following news items, analyses, and axioms

1.Ben Bernanke renewed for the 2nd time. Dr. Ben is a scholar of the great depression. However, the corruptions in Wall Street have reached the same epic proportions as they were to be during the great depression … so, we need a Pecora like investigation. So who was Ferdinand Pecora?

2. AXIOM: Fire does not need to say: I am hot, I am hot, I am hot. If you come near fire, we feel the heat. So, Bernanke, Summers & Kudlow: please don’t tell us that the economy is turning around, it is back from abyss, it is hot again. If it is hot, we will feel the heat. Now, all we feel is Main Street burning: people losing jobs, homes, families…

3. Capital South Bank of Alabama becomes the 80th bank failure of this year. It was taken into receivership. However, was the PCA (prompt corrective action) law broken by the Hank Paulsons of the world, when Goldman Sachs was not taken into receivership, but bailed out directly and indirectly.

4. We explain the buzzwords circling the Health-Care debates right now: public action or public plan, and death panels.

5. Looks like George W. got away twice, first time by getting less popular votes than Al Gore, and then again by raising the terror alert level just four days before his election again Kerry…

6. Example of one human being pocketing millions, where as millions go without any income? The announced compensation of the new AIG CEO: $3 million in salary + $4 million in stock options. Wow. Capitalism rules!

Tune in to enjoy…

Strategic Case Analysis by Sam Mishra becomes a Recommended TEXT BOOK in UNLV

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:35:00 EST

Strategic Case Analysis by Sam Mishra, Published by Franteractive Inc., is now a recommended TEXT BOOK for an undegraduate course in management at UNLV - University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The book, which is also an excellent primer on Business Strategy 101 for recent MBAs looking for jobs as also for mid-level marketing / business managers, is currently on sale for $15.99 on Amazon.com. Learn more about the features and benefits of the book here.

Franconomics.com 9th Aug Weekly Podcast

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:30:00 EST

In this podcast for the week ending August 9th, we delve into the following data, axioms, proofs, and analysis…

1. July Unemployment Data: 247,000 jobs were lost for the month. Whereas at the end of June, the official unemployment was at 9.5%, and at the end of July, the official rate improved to 9.4%! In any case, this recession has taken its toll on the American jobs lost: employment has fallen by 6.7 million (including 2 million jobs lost in factories) since December 2007. Our analysis on this and on JEC (Joine Economic Committee) Chairwoman Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s optimistic response to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) jobs report? More Americans are unemployed, month-over-month, and not headed to work. Also, if you include the underemployed, real-unemployment is closer to 25%. In other words, one in four Americans is out of work or almost out of work!

2. What do the revenue projections of CISCO Systems tell us? CAP EX is reducing; in other words, the I component in the macroeconomic equation C + I + G = GDP is going down quarter over quarter. This will not help the GDP to come back up? So what will? Listen to our Action Item directed to the Obama Administration towards the end of the podcast for the right answers to this difficult question.

3.Personalities who made the headlines this week included the good (Sonia Sotomayer), and the bad (Hank Paulson). While it is refreshing that a great Judge like Sotomayer ascended to the US Supreme Court, what is chilling is the fact that ex-Goldman CEO Hank Paulson talked to Goldman CEO Lloyd Finklestein at least 24 times in the thick of the financial crisis, after getting an ethics waiver. We emphasize the recent grilling of Hank Paulson by Congressman Cliff Stearns. In particular why did Paulson not recuse himself when Lehman, a Goldman rival was let go bankrupt, and when Merrill, another Goldman rival was allowed to be gobbled up by BofA? This looks like solid conflict of interest! We at Franconomics.com think that a Pecora II investigation can help all Americans, send guilty bankers to jail, and prevent another asset bubble in the very near future.

4. Economics is all about economic self-interest, right? Some self-interest is required to survive, and thrive. But should self-interest be the one driver that makes the economic world go round? Well, we posit an axiom in this podcast: WHERE THERE IS A LOT OF SELF-INTEREST, CORRUPTION SETS IN. We prove the axiom by using economist Simon Johnson as the guinea pig. Mr. Johnson recommended in a blog this week that Geithner would make a good federal reserve chairman and a good regulator. Please! We give six or seven reasons why Secretary Geithner should never become the Federal Reserve Chairman, and prove the axiom by speculating that did a Guru like Simon Johnson make this blunder, for he sits in Washington DC even though he teaches in MIT Sloan (from where the podcaster earned his MBA degree); because now he wants a powerful position in the Obama administration?

The podcast ends with a summary of action items for the following stake holders:

1. The Obama Administration: You can’t blame businesses for laying people off and not investing in CAP EX. Please boost the G portion by investing in core infrastructure such as more efficient Internet Super-Highways side by side our Interstates (i.e., hard-wired PCs or computers connected to the Internet as public service Internet booths) in the rest areas nationwide. This will also create massive employment in the construction sector. To generate cash for these ventures, instead of taxing the over-burdened American taxpayer, taxing the Goldman Bonus of 2007 and 2008 at 100% and pulling it back into the U.S. treasury could be a good starting point.

2. American Taxpayers (Disclaimer: RECOMMENDATION IS NOT ADVICE): The Government is Full of Wall-Street Insiders, who will try their best to jack up the stock market. But markets do not go up, up, up. The go Up, Down; Up and Down. We recommend that you sell your stock into the rallies, specially those on which you are making money. (Note: the podcaster personally does not sell stocks that are making losses, he holds on.) Also, for non-retirement accounts, where you have to pay capital gains tax, selling stock after holding them for a while ensures you pay lower taxes. For those amongst you facing foreclosures, extended unemployment etc., do lobby with your congressman to get the Pecora II started as soon as possible, so that bankers and other financial criminals who put you in this mess are brought to justice ASAP.

3. Congress: Keep the jack-hammer on the Hank Paulsons and the Libby’s of the world. Please bring on the Pecora II ASAP, and please make it a hard grind on the people who participated in the 20 trillion dollar value drain, as in robbing the poor, gullible, foreclosed, unemployed or under-employed American. As a first step, please put Goldman under the comp czar’s scrutiny by passing legislature, and please consider pulling back the Goldman bonus paid in 2007 and 2008 by taxing it at 100%.

The podcast ends by elaborating the Thought of the Day theme on the home page of Franconomics.com on how to help the homeless titled WOULD YOU LIKE MILK WITH THAT? Please tune in to enjoy…

FRANCONOMICS.COM Blog Entry - Sam Mishra disagrees with Simon Johnson that Geithner will make a good replacement for Bernanke...

Sun, 9 Aug 2009 21:58:00 EST

Excerpt from the Blog Entry: ... A former Asst. Treasury Secretary (albeit from the Regan era when the deregulations really started) has quipped that Geithner works for Goldman Sachs. He may actually go to Goldman after his stint in the Treasury; following the footsteps of Rubin, Summers, etc. We have documented in the "Thoughts" section of our website what Geithner had to say when quizzed about the Goldman bonus of 2008 (it can be argued that the money came from the AIG handout of $12.9 billion or the TARP of $10 billion which the bank took last year)... Geithner said, "it is for the Goldman board to decide that." Professor Black on Bill Moyers journal has rightly pointed out that Geithner failed to regulate as NY Fed President. However, the way things are moving with the Obama administration, I won't be surprised if Geithner gets the job. What you should not do is prop up a semi-wall-street insider (Geithner's job as President of NY Fed was to regulate the NY banks, that he did not do so or does not agree that he was ever a regulator shows a lack of responsibility), for Geithner was also assistant to a powerful banker by the name of Rubin during the Clinton era...Read more...

August 2 Weekly Podcast - Franconomics.com

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:30:00 EST

In this podcast for the week ending August 2nd, we formally announce that Sam Mishra's forthcoming book coming soon as a Paperback this Christmas is titled The 20 Trillion Dollar Value Drain - How Goldman and Other Banks Robbed America, and Why They Will Do it Again. We also analyze the following:

1. The government announced that the second quarter this year shrank at an annualized rate of 1%, quarter over quarter. The GDP declines for the last four quarters have been -2.7%, -5.4%, -6.4%, and -1.0% annualized, respectively. Since the Great Depression, the economy has declined for four consecutive quarters FOR THE FIRST TIME! The revised data show that the economy grew only at 0.4% in 2008, and not the originally estimated 1.0%. We analyze all this data and provide our opinion on where the American economy is headed...

2. Bank of America settled with SEC by paying a fine of only $33 million over bonus payments to Merill bankers in 2008. Merill pocketed billions from AIG, and BofA pocketed billions of TARP from the government to acquire Merill Lynch. The Merill bankers digested more than $5 billion in bonus payments, and all the administration got back was $33 million in fines! We look under the hood for such abysmal negotiation on the part of the administration.

3. Home price data compared for June of 2009 vis-a-vis June of 2008: Mortgage delinquencies are 10 to 13% nationwide. Media home prices are down year over year nationwide. home resales are down in 3 regions and up in the west (good news, new home sales are down in 3 regions and up only in the mid-west. New homw construction is down. Our analysis: does not matter what Larry Summers says, we are still in the middle of a recession...

4. Geither hints at future tax raises to take care of the balloning federal budget deficit of 1 to 2 trillion dollars. Our take: let's pull back the Goldman and Merill bonus of 2007 and 2008 as a starting point.

The podcast ends with a summary of action items for the following stake holders:

1. Congress: Focus on the American Consumer. How will he be able to spend and boost the C component of the basic macro-economic equation GDP = C + I + G, if he keeps losing money on his home investment, or if he gets foreclosed, or if he loses his job. Support issues like Cash for Clunkers, and to get the federal budget balanced, please demand that all the Goldman and Merrill bonus payments of 2008 and 2007 be pulled back by taxing it at 100%.

2. To the Bankers and their planted reps in all levels of administration: Pecora II is coming, so change radically now. Stop looting the main street folks in the name of crony capitalism. You will not be able to financially engineer fraudulent derivative schemes which allow for coming with begging bowls to bail you out. Also, in the short run, stop jacking up interest rates on credit cards, maintenance fees on bank accounts, etc. Everyone knows what you guys are doing.

3. American Consumers (DISCLAIMER: RECOMMENDATION IS NOT ADVICE, PLEASE READ OUR TERMS OF SERVICE): Educate yourself, and don’t jump in with both feet to buy that new home simply because the government is giving a tax benefit of 8K USD. A mortgage is a loan, and nationwide, delinquencies are as high as 10% at least, and 12% on the average. That works out to 1 in 8 homes is mortgage delinquent, as in, they can’t pay the mortgage. And the government is not going to bail you out, like it bailed out Goldman, or Citigroup, of BofA. The Wall Street bankers, because of their greed, have placed you in this mess (delinquent mortgages and falling home prices). Soo, please ask your favorite politician what he or she is doing in terms of pulling the Goldman and Merill bonus of 2008 by taxing it at 100%, and preventing Goldman executives from consuming multi-million dollar bonus hand-outs again this year, as they have recently announced.

The podcast ends with an advice on how to help the homeless: Give them milk and cookies, and not money. They will use the money to buy alcohol. But if you give them milk and cookies, it will nourish their body and soul in a positive way.

FranTerActive.Net - MP3 Podcast on Pareto NEGOTIATION Frontier

Tue, 4 Aug 2009 15:02:08 EST

In this podcast, Sam Mishra, the author of Strategic Case Analysis explains the Pareto "Negotiation" Frontier framework as outlined on page 141 within Chapter 5 - Advanced Frameworks of Strategic Case Analysis. As Mishra explains in this podcast, if two parties are negotiating, and one party knows the existence of the frontier, and the other does not, the party which knows that this frontier exists will be able to create and claim more value, without hurting the value claimed by the other party. During this discourse on negotiation, the author gets into business concepts like integrative and distributive bargaining, which are covered on page 26 within Chapter 3 - Business Concepts of Strategic Case Analysis. The book is available for purchase on Amazon.com, and the framework is available on the website FranTerActive.Net.

Franconomics.com July 26 Weekly Podcast

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:30:00 EST

In this 16 minute long podcast, we analyze the following:

1. DOW breaks past 9000: What does it mean for the economy, and what can an individual investor do?

2. Goldman bought back its warrants by paying the full market price (and interest). But who are they trying to fool? Not the American public! A persuasive case (also partly done in the ACTION ITEMS below) for CONGRESS to pull back the 2008 Goldman bonus for violating the PCA - Prompt Corrective Action Law.

3. Analysis of the Humphrey-Hawkings semi-annual testimony by Ben Bernanke. Congressman Grayson grills him on the half-a-trillion dollar lending to foreign banks. Of course it is part of the $620 billion in expansion of SWAP lines that we cover in the 14 trillion dollar (now 20 trillion) Value Drain or looting of the American taxpayer by the fradulent rich bankers, which we have covered in sufficient detail in the Value Drain-II article (please read it up from the home-page of Franconomics.com, if you have not done so). Also, Bernanke discussed in his article titled "Fed's Exit Strategy" in the Wall Street Journal, and mentioned it to Congress / Senator Chris Dodd that the TALF program will come to the rescue of insufficient credit on Main Street. FRANCONOMICS.COM take? See below under action items...

The podcast ends with a summary of action items for the main stake holders:

1. American Investors (DISCLAIMER: RECOMMENDATION IS NOT ADVICE, PLEASE READ OUR TERMS OF SERVICE): Consider taking profit on your long-term investments by selling into the rallies. Dow is at 9000. But the real economy sucks: unemployment is going up, not down; foreclosures are going up, not down; and house prices are plummeting, not climbing.

2. Congress: Pull back the Goldman Bonus by taxing the 2008 Bonus at 100%, these bankers colluded with Paulson to subvert the PCA - Promt Corrective Action Law, and paid themselves massive bonus. Also, if you allow Goldman to pay its executives big bonus in 2009, no one will want to work for Citi. When the financial system was bailed out as one black box, the black box included Goldman, JP Morgan, BofA, Citigroup. So, how come Goldman is dodging the compensation Czar.

3. Federal Reserve: Don't compete with the U.S. Treasury in terms of sucking up to the banks. Consider lending to the small businesses directly; don't try to fill up the black holes in the balance sheets of banks with scams like TALF; LET THESE BANKS FAIL!”

FRANCONOMICS.COM Weekly Podcast (19 July 2009)

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:30:08 EST

The crux of the podcast is an analysis of Dr. Summers’ vision as he doled it out in a Progress Report / speech at the Peterson Institute on July 17th: The rebuilt American economy must be more export-oriented and less consumption-oriented, more environmentally-oriented and less fossil-energy-oriented, more bio- and software-engineering-oriented and less financial-engineering-oriented, more middle-class-oriented and less oriented to income growth that disproportionately favors a very small share of the population. We delve into the hypocrisy manifesting in the last three of the four phrases here, and ignorance of basic macroeconomics in the first (which we solve as an action item below); we analyze each of these phrases in detail... We also touch upon the following points, and provide our analysis, and what it means for the American and Global Economy:

1. JP Morgan’s Blow-out Earnings Report: Is the Government subverting the Anti-Trust laws by allowing these already "too big to fail" banks get even bigger - - - for JPM gobbled up Washington Mutual and before that, Bear Stearns. Can JP Morgan and Goldman pose systemic risks again?

2. Why did the pPiP plan fail? Our theory: Probably the “street” heard that Goldman was shorting the toxic waste. Nobel Laureate Krugman reported in his July 14 article titled The Joy of Sachs that Goldman Sachs made money both ways here, initially by peddling the MBSs, and when these toxic derivatives got way high in valuation because they hyped it up, Goldman short-sold those before they crashed, reaping huge profts again. So why would anyone buy it up, when Goldman was shorting it, in spite of the extra-ordinary pPiP leverage?

3. Choicest words thrown at Paulson in his recent congressional testimony: Congressman Frank: If you had come up here with Mr. Bernanke and said, ‘I have got a plan, I want to take $800 billion in taxpayer money and I want to give it to my pals in the nine biggest banks of America,’ how many votes do you think you would have got? Congresswoman Kaptur, in reference to her constituencies facing foreclosures and eviction: You ought to come visit Ohio and see the results of your handiwork.

The podcast ends with a summary of the analyses, as in action items:

1. Congress: Thanks for roughing up Hank Paulson. Now, repeal the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. And don't wait for Pecora II to end. Do it now.

2. MIT Sloan and other b-schools: Instead of peddling “financial engineering” courses, give more courses focused on “law” and “ethics,”if you want to create better leaders.

3. Summers & Co: Please understand that GDP = C + I + G. Unless you focus on C, as in the American consumer, which constitutes 70% of the GDP, you have no chances of coming out of the “abyss.”

FRANTERACTIVE.NET MP3 PODCAST on TALC - Technology Adoption Life Cycle

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:02:08 EST

In this podcast, Sam Mishra, the author of Strategic Case Analysis explains the TALC – Technology Adoption Life Cycle framework from his book. The author begins by explaining the differences between the five user groups of a technology based product, also known as the (1) Innovators, (2) Early Adopters, (3) Early Majority, (4) Late Majority, and (5) Laggards. The author then proceed to explain associated concepts like the following:

1. The Chasm: Apparently, a chasm exists between the various user groups, but the chasm that needs to be really crossed for the technology based product to win in the market place is the one that exists between the early adopters and the early majority. There are a lot of reasons why a tech product can’t go past this chasm. For example, if a product is tied to the economy, and the economy sours (as is happening right now at the time of broadcasting this podcast, i.e., mid-2009), then the product can very well fall into the chasm. Another example is the scenario where a bigger competitor with more resources comes and kills your product before you have been able to sell it to any Early Majority users.

2. What strategies one should use while selling a technology based product to the early majority (clearly, the early majority will pursue the product / technology if it can given them a competitive advantage) vis-à-vis the late majority (this group can be sold the idea that since everyone else is using it, they should use it too; otherwise they will have a competitive disadvantage).

3. Explains how the different stages of the PLC (product life cycle) and the S-Curves frameworks map into the five user groups or the five segments of TALC. For example, mathematically speaking, the S-Curve is the INTEGRAL of the TALC bell-curve, or if you plotted the area under the normal bell distribution, you would get the S-Curve!

FRANCONOMICS.COM Weekly (2009 July 12) Podcast

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:30:00 EST

This 12 minute long podcast covers the following issues:

1. Goldman Sucks: As per an ex-treasury secretary, the current treasury secretary Mr. Geithner works for Goldman Sachs. No wonder the bank’s “risk management” skills are way above competition, as per a BofA analyst.

2. TARP COP’s July Oversight Report: taxpayers lost $10 million by letting 11 small banks buy back their warrants at 66% of market value.

3. Fiscal Budget Deficit: Now at $1 trillion and will climb to $1.81 trillion by Fiscal year end.

4. Foreclosures and Home Prices: Between the 1st quarter of 2008 and 1st quarter of 2009, foreclosures jumped 36%. Nationally, home prices keep falling, and have fallen by 33% since 2006. Housing affordability is increasing, as a consequence.

5. pPiP plan: It has failed?

6. G8 Summit: France supports China in undermining the US Dollar and says this --- “the current international system is outdated.”

Maximin Strategy from FRANTERACTIVE.NET

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 19:58:00 EST

In which situations does it make sense to forego profit maximization and maximize your minimum gains instead (i.e., follow a Maximin Strategy? Find out by brushing up on Game Theory from FranTerActive.net, the business strategy portal for one and all.

FRANCONOMICS.COM Update - Real Unemployment at 15%

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 23:58:00 EST

Excerpt from the Article: ... So, the Real Unemployment Rate = (13.5 + 5.1) / (13.5 + 140.1 + 5.1) = 18.6 / 158.7 = 11.7% at the end of the first quarter (or end of March, 2009). Now, at the end of May, the official rate jumped to 9.4%. If we use the same rate of increase for the Real Unemployment Rate, we come to 11.7 * 9.4 / 8.7 = 12.65%. So, we know for a fact that unemployment at the end of May was 12.65%...As per estimates, this official figure of 9.4% will go up to 12% by end of 2010, as per many economists, including Roubini. Which means what? The real / actual unemployment rate will go up from its current 15% to 15 / 9.4 * 12 = 19.14%, or almost 20%. In less than 2 years, 1 in 5 Americans will be fully (not partially) unemployed! And the number will approach (and exceed) the figure of 25% of people who were unemployed during the Great Depression, if we include the partially employed at that point of time! Read more...

FRANTERACTIVE.NET - NDA - New Buzzword

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 18:58:00 EST

Unless you are a business like the HP Printer Division which touts (as per a fairly recent keynote by its division head Vyomesh Joshi) that its arrangements with Japanese manufacturers don't even have a formal written contract, you are better off, for multiple reasons, to get that NDA or Non-Disclosure Agreement signed by various stakeholders. NDAs are necessary evils, but important business tools nevertheless. Learn more about NDAs and why you need them in the Web 2.0 world.

FRANTERACTIVE.NET STRATEGY PORTAL - Sections on GAME THEORY Added

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:58:00 EST

Game Theory was a part of Advanced Strategy Frameworks in the strategy portal until now. It has now been expanded and new web pages dealing with PRISONERS’ DILEMMA and DOMINANT STRATEGY have been added with 2 by 2 pay-off matrices to illustrate the concept of strategic gaming. Prisoner’s Dilemma is the best traditional example in game theory to explain NASH EQUILIBRIUM, which, in the context of the Prisoners’ Dilemma, can be defined as: Prisoner X is doing the best it can given what prisoner Y is doing. Similarly, prisoner Y is doing the best it can given what prisoner X is doing. The link here will take you to the web page on Prisoners' Dilemma, from which you can navigate to the page on Dominant Strategy.