The Bystander Effect: an Information Cascade
It seems that it is a basic instinct that you should help someone if they are lying injured on the ground. However, this does not always occur, especially when there are many people around. If you were in an isolated area and saw someone injured, you would go help them, because that is your basic […]
Network Effects on Music Industry
We all like to think that we are independent free thinkers, and many of us take pride in our ability to “stray from the path”. We are somehow under the impression that we are above the influence of others. In reality, we are social creatures who live, breathe, and make decisions based, at least in […]
Google’s long term competition; are they afraid of a cascade?
I recently read an article in the Washington Post about DuckDuckGo, a newcomer to the search engine market, that’s been gaining steam, and some of the giants have taken notice. But, what makes it different from the current search engines? DuckDuckGo has a search algorithm that focuses on the most relevant first few results, and […]
Effects of Information Cascades on Technology Adoption
“Conformity is a powerful instinct. There is safety in numbers. To be better you need to be different, but different is scary”. Human nature for the majority is to take less risk. Combine this nature with the concept of safety in numbers and human decisions become a perfect demonstration of the effects of information cascades. […]
Investing, Bonds, and the Network Effect
Many of the topics we have recently covered in class can be tied into the inner-workings of the stock market and other parts of the financial world. In a recent Yahoo! Finance article titled, “Why Muni Bonds Are Suddenly So Popular”, author Patti Domm explains this recent surge in popularity. Bonds have seen a rise […]
Google’s New Competition
Google has controlled online advertising for over a decade. Google was not the first search engine on the internet, but it created the most innovative search technology to make it the top search engine. Its internal innovation to create a dominating advertisement marketing system has led it to become one of the wealthiest companies in […]
The Importance of Keeping Up Appearances for Small Business Owners
In 1995, Nick Sarillo opened up his first restaurant, Nick’s Pizza & Pub, in Crystal Lake, IL. 10 years later he opened up his second restaurant in Elgin, a Chicago suburb. By 2007, Mr. Sarillo was seeing revenues in the area of $7 million. Even with the beginning of the recession, Nick’s Pizza & Pub […]
Google Updates Its Organic Results Algorithm
When a query is entered in Google, the query can be related to hundreds of thousands of web pages. In order to provide useful information, Google must be able to sort these pages by how relevant they are and by the quality of the information that they contain. Google uses a variety of techniques to […]
Information Cascades and Tablets
Tablets are all the rage now in the technology world. There is constant innovation as companies try to one-up each other, thus newer, better models seem to be making debuts every month. As consumers, we try to wade through the onslaught of company ads and look to product reviews to determine our choices. Some people […]
The Forces Behind a Bubble
The stock market has been has been a vehicle for wealth since its inception. With its creation, the infamous “bubbles” associated with reckless speculation of these markets eventually arrived as well. The consequences are often dire as countless individuals lose their investments and the economic repercussions reach beyond the stock market. Whether talking about the […]
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