1. For this assignment, I read The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson, who was, at the time of publication, the editor in chief of Wired magazine. In the book, Anderson argues that our culture as a society is moving toward individuality and away from the commonalities that used to “define” generations. Anderson states that the technology jump of the last few decades has increased the number of alternatives available to consumers of all products, and in turn, it has, in many ways, shattered our culture into many pieces. Additionally, Anderson argues that these markets with large numbers of alternatives tend to build healthier markets. Though a large number of products will have miniscule market shares, the mass amount of selection improves numbers for all involved parties.
2. I think that Anderson’s book connected deeply with my learning in ENT 3003. When we learn about entrepreneurs outside of the classroom, we mostly hear about the major success stories such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk. But Anderson argues that you can find success as an entrepreneur in other ways than just by having a single, perfect, innovative product. Companies such as Amazon.com have thrived off of what Anderson calls a “long tail” strategy, by which a company hopes to offer a large number of alternatives that will only sell small amounts.
3. If I were to build an exercise for class based upon the novel, I would have students compare and contrast two industries that are on opposite spectrums of the “long tail” concept. An example would be to compare an industry such as books (with nearly limitless alternatives) to an industry such as ISPs (with very few alternatives). I would then ask the students to theorize which industry they believe is “healthier” and more stable, in addition to asking if they believe stability of industries are impacted by the number of alternatives available.
4. I think, in general, this book opened my eyes to how the industrious world has been and is changing due to technology such as the internet. I realized just how much of an amalgamation our culture used to be, and that the internet has allowed us to move away from that type of societal continuity and towards individuality as there are infinitely more options available to us as consumers through the internet than there was prior.
Cooper,
ReplyDeleteI think the point the book makes about a market with multiples of products being better is such a strong point. I really think that for example when it comes to quick sit down restaurants, the market is saturated with places to eat. This gives the consumer, for example a college student in Gainesville, more options based on what they want to eat, how large of a portion, or how much money they want to spend. It's very true that it creates more competition and companies might not like it, but this type of market is more catered to consumers.
Hello Goetz,
ReplyDeleteYou make an excellent point in your reflection when you say that technology is the cause of an important change in the industry and in our society. For us these days, it is a common thing that we have a huge number of choices where we want to eat but not so long ago, there was only one Italian restaurant in town and only one Asian one. I believe that the scary part is that technology improves every day which means that our lifestyle keeps improving every day and nothing seems to be as it has been before.