Comments on: MI's New Info Assembly Line http://www.thecenterformichigan.net/blog/mis-new-info-assembly-line/ Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:12:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Mike Anthony http://www.thecenterformichigan.net/blog/mis-new-info-assembly-line/#comment-22386 Mike Anthony Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:20:59 +0000 http://www.thecenterformichigan.net/blog/?p=817#comment-22386 Thanks for this, Phil. The artfully drawn metaphor of the information assembly line works. ePrize has a niche, and we should all be happy for it and not waste a moment to hold it up as an example of what is possible. As with all information businesses, though; they need to be looking over their shoulder at competition. As with many information-age businesses, that old bugaboo--the barrier to entry--is low. Maybe Michigan should be thinking about letting it be known that we will support start ups when they hit that competitive “wall”. We'll need to shake ourselves of that Old Michigan habit of calling every regulatory initiative some kind of "jobs" program, though. We're going to have to hold our noses and call it something like a middle stage "business SUPPORT" initiative -- otherwise we frighten the capital. Now I must admit that I am a newbie to this concept of barrier to entry in the industrial organization so don’t quote me. The University has its own expert in multinational conglomerates ; a guy in the economics department named William Adams. I was doing some web crawling and came upon this paper, “Beer in Germany and the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(1), Winter 2006, 189-205.” and was pleasantly surprised. Another small businessman I know from my son’s soccer team has been trying to educate me on the concept of “the firm”. I still don’t get it, and maybe when I do I’ll fully appreciate the contrast of Walker Wire and ePrize. Now if ePrize, is still in that renovated warehouse building off I-696 that used to be a manufacturing facility of some sort, you probably used that 2 story elevator that they had voltage problems with about 3 years ago. (An electrical contractor working for them called me in for some engineering assistance). The space is, indeed…groovy in a campy, Google-ish sort of way. I did not get the impression, however, that they were hiring PhD’s, though. The supply of young, smart, ineluctably “attractive” people, in that part of the county was plentiful. For a more fully dimensioned view of possibilities for Michigan’s transformation, might I suggest a trip to Clutch Cargo’s or St. Andrews Hall? One cannot fully understand the young unless we understand their music. Maybe that is how we get our young people to stay: Tax abatements for nightclubs! Ha! (On the condition they clean up the place of drugs , of course) I say, create a barrier to Sandhill Road’s poaching of our home grown talent with alternative rock. Want more ePrizes? I say, nurture garage bands; not just the “arts” as visualized by the state-paid arts administrators. Music is information. While the music industry is having a hard time; the music itself isn’t. Have a listen to Ann Arbor’s own Tally Hall. Take care. Thanks for this, Phil. The artfully drawn metaphor of the information assembly line works. ePrize has a niche, and we should all be happy for it and not waste a moment to hold it up as an example of what is possible. As with all information businesses, though; they need to be looking over their shoulder at competition. As with many information-age businesses, that old bugaboo--the barrier to entry--is low. Maybe Michigan should be thinking about letting it be known that we will support start ups when they hit that competitive “wall”. We'll need to shake ourselves of that Old Michigan habit of calling every regulatory initiative some kind of "jobs" program, though. We're going to have to hold our noses and call it something like a middle stage "business SUPPORT" initiative -- otherwise we frighten the capital.

Now I must admit that I am a newbie to this concept of barrier to entry in the industrial organization so don’t quote me. The University has its own expert in multinational conglomerates ; a guy in the economics department named William Adams. I was doing some web crawling and came upon this paper, “Beer in Germany and the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(1), Winter 2006, 189-205.” and was pleasantly surprised. Another small businessman I know from my son’s soccer team has been trying to educate me on the concept of “the firm”. I still don’t get it, and maybe when I do I’ll fully appreciate the contrast of Walker Wire and ePrize.

Now if ePrize, is still in that renovated warehouse building off I-696 that used to be a manufacturing facility of some sort, you probably used that 2 story elevator that they had voltage problems with about 3 years ago. (An electrical contractor working for them called me in for some engineering assistance). The space is, indeed…groovy in a campy, Google-ish sort of way. I did not get the impression, however, that they were hiring PhD’s, though. The supply of young, smart, ineluctably “attractive” people, in that part of the county was plentiful.

For a more fully dimensioned view of possibilities for Michigan’s transformation, might I suggest a trip to Clutch Cargo’s or St. Andrews Hall? One cannot fully understand the young unless we understand their music. Maybe that is how we get our young people to stay: Tax abatements for nightclubs! Ha! (On the condition they clean up the place of drugs , of course) I say, create a barrier to Sandhill Road’s poaching of our home grown talent with alternative rock. Want more ePrizes? I say, nurture garage bands; not just the “arts” as visualized by the state-paid arts administrators. Music is information. While the music industry is having a hard time; the music itself isn’t. Have a listen to Ann Arbor’s own Tally Hall. Take care.

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