Archive for August, 2007

“Bid Low. We’ll Make It Up With Change Orders and Unexpected Essential Upgrades.”

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

This is line from Dilbert. It is meant as a joke, but to me it’s not funny.

Not Funny Because It’s True
The first and most disturbing reason is that it is true. And, that realization makes my blood boil. It’s true that companies, whether large or small, often employ this tactic. Those who do are met with everything from frustration to black listing. Yes, you read it correctly. Black listing.

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Your Inability to Make Money is Not My Problem

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

A friend of mine emailed me the link to this blog entry.

It is a fascinating letter and reply letter well worth reading. The gist is this: Angus and Robertson (an Australian book seller) wrote a childish, swarmy letter to an Australian publisher. The bookseller ranked all of their suppliers based on how much net profitability each supplier made the bookseller. Then, calculating that the publisher fell below a certain amount in net profitability charged the publisher the difference due immediately. That’s right. The bookseller was not making enough profit, so it said, and it felt compelled to charge the publisher the difference.

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What He Wore to the Takeover: One deal maker’s thoughts on clothes and negotiating

Thursday, August 2nd, 2007

In the Style section of the Wall Street Journal last week (Thursday, July 26, 2007) writer Christina Binkley talked to Colony Capital LLC chairman Thomas J. Barrack, Jr. about his choice in clothes when attending international negotiations worth mega millions. 

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