Book Report 3, "Thank You for Smoking"

Nick visits his son’s school and is informed that the school is going to donate money to the Coalition for Health. The CFH is actually a group run by the tobacco industry. The name is very misleading. I find it extremely interesting how people do these types of things. The name suggests the group has no affiliation with smoking or non-smoking but just does studies and produces scientific proof. But instead the group spends its money amplifying the statistics about smoking that don’t make smoking look too too bad.

A while back Nick was given bodyguards to protect him. Nick doesn’t think that it is necessary and so he plays this game when he’s driving where he tries to lose them. On his way to a meeting, which is mainly what Nick’s job includes, he loses his security guards and stops off at a café to pick up a cappuccino for him and a coworker. There is a homeless man sitting on the ground and Nick gives the man a dollar and a couple cigarettes. As he is walking away he feels something pushed into his back and the homeless man whispers into his ear something about not moving or he’ll shoot Nick. The man walks Nick to a limousine where he is knocked out and abducted.

When Nick comes to he getting his clothing stripped off him, but a hood is kept over his head. Nick tries to ask the men what they are doing but the men just start sticking things to his chest, back, and arms. Nick realizes that he is being covered in nicotine patches, which he counts about 40 of. The man who is doing this to him reveals himself as the same man who called into a live television interview of Nick where Nick told the man that nicotine patches can be lethal in high amounts. The man who did this to Nick is obviously an anti-smoking advocate.

Two police officers finally find Nick and call the paramedics who just barely save his life. The FBI is assigned to finding the perpetrators. All the nicotine patches caused Paroxysmal Atrial Tachycardia. Paroxysmal Atrial Tachycardia is a fancy word for when your heart speeds up abnormally fast. The doctor tells Nick that smoking actually saved his life because non-smokers couldn’t handle that much nicotine. The tobacco industry is outraged and treats Nick as family while insisting that they catch the people who did this.

This makes national headlines and Nick is given an interview with Katie Couric on the Today Show. On the show Nick admits that he is not going to press charges. He explains that whoever did this needs mental help.

What if preppies really did take over Wal-Mart?

In class on Wednesday we talked about the article, "If Preppies Took Over Wal-Mart." Dr. Goates asked us why we thought Wal-Mart was suggesting the newer uniforms. I brought up the point that it could motivate the employees to work harder. Thus increasing customer satisfaction and ultimately increasing sales. Of the many other reasons brought up for the change one stuck out in my mind; because Wal-Mart is trying to be more upscale. I kept thinking about it, and I think it's a combination of the both of them. If Wal-mart is trying to be upscale, then they would want their employees to look presentable to their employees. I also think that if the employees were motivated by the new dress code then they would increase sales. The two of these combined could turn Wal-Mart from the run down, cheap-as-hell superstore to a half-decent shopping center.

Nacirema

This blog is in response to class on Monday. We discussed the article about Nacirema, which I had no idea was just America spelled backwards until Dr. Goates informed us. I thought it was weird the way the author described things. He did make it seem really weird. This however is only because he was very vague and objective in his descriptions. This type of writing is called debunking. It also brings up the fact that those things are only weird when described that way because society doesn't work like that, which can be related to philosophy. Society is all about conforming. Dr. Goates wouldn't wear a dress to class because he would get laughed at. He wants to be taken seriously and not laughed at so he conforms and wear what everyone else does, pants and a shirt. I could sit here and talk about this for hours but I'll spare whoever reads this the time. It's just a very interesting topic.

Book Report 2 "Thank You for Smoking"

The next part of the book, Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley is about the main character’s struggle to keep his job. He was put on the Oprah show in the last section where he had to go up against 3 anti-smoking advocates and a high schooler who had lung cancer. He came out successful and actually somehow won people over. The only thing his boss told him to say was that the smoking industry would host 500 hundred thousand dollar anti-smoking campaign. I’m not sure if Nick froze up on live television or if he just made a decision on the fly, but he told Oprah, and anyone who was watching the show, that instead of 500 thousand dollars the anti-smoking campaign would spend about 5 million dollars. Nicks boss was furious. Nick thought he might even lose his job.

 In comes Mr. Doak Boykin. Boykin is even another level above Nick’s boss BR. He called Nick and told him he wanted to see him. Boykin is a very interesting man. He is very old. He was the one who introduced the filter to the cigarette industry. Obviously this man is rolling in cash. He has nick come to this private restaurant reserved for smokers only. As they are sitting there drinking their expensive drinks and eating their expensive meals Boykin congratulates Nick on how he did on the Oprah show. He likes Nick’s idea of the 5 million dollar campaign. He seems like an alright guy. During the dinner Boykin gives Nick a whole history of smoking. He tells Nick about people who came over with Columbus being arrested for smoking because it was a “devilish act.” He says all this because he wants to remind Nick that he is not the only one who battles with anti-smokers.

Their dinner went well. Boykin seems to like Nick and it even seems like he alludes to the fact that Nick might be getting some sort of promotion in the near future.  The last thing Boykin says to Nick is about Nick’s idea of more people smoking in movies. Boykin says that it was BR’s idea and Nick does not correct him. If I were in that situation I would have told him how it was my idea but Nick seems to know how to play this “game.”

When Nick gets back from seeing Boykin he arrives at his office and talks to BR, who tried to fire him less than two days ago. BR asks how the flight was and his jaw drops when Nick tells him that he flew back on Boykin's personal jet. BR did not like that fact that Nick was all of a sudden being treated better than himself. BR then asked how Boykin liked the 5 million dollar anti-smoking campaign and was again astonished at the fact that Boykin liked Nick's proposals. Then, trying to be a smartass, Nick tells BR than Boykin liked BR's proposal to try to get more actors to smoke in movies. BR tells Nick that it was his Nick's idea and Boykin just must have made a mistake. It is quite obvious that BR was just trying to steal Nick's idea. It seems like this will be a huge changing point in Nick's career. His boss is turning into his employee. Nick is starting to move up the food chain (if you can call it that).

Nick is then invited onto the Larry King Live show where Larry gets people to call in and ask Nick questions. Nick gets threatened by one of these callers so when he goes back to work the next day his boss, BR, get 3 bodyguards for him. Three bodyguards whose sole purpose is to protect the spokesman for the cigarette industry.

Nick is then scheduled for an industry with Heather Holloway, who is a reporter doing a piece on all the bad industries; for example the gun, liquor, lead, etc industries. Nick is told by his coworkers that Heather is an extremely attractive woman and that she will use this to his advantage so he should be careful in the interview. Heather starts out the interview by asking him simple questions about why he does this job, to which Nick answers, “to pay the mortgage.” Heather is increasingly intrigued by this and starts to try to woo Nick into telling her secret information. She starts to get a little sexual and Nick handles the situation by asking for a check and insisting on leaving. I think that was the right move for him. If reporters are really like that then I wonder how skewed the information we hear on the news is? It makes you wonder.

Negotiating

In class on Wednesday we further discussed negotiating and the prisoner's dilemma game. 

I found it interesting how if the person has their own self-interest in mind, that person will most likely choose to compete. This makes complete sense. If I'm only in it for myself I'm going to choose the best option for me. Dr. Goates then talked about the enlightened self-interest. This is where the person has to help others to help himself or herself. I found this tactic of negotiating rather interesting. Most people think of negotiating as a win or lose but sometimes both parties can win. This was clearly depicted in the activity Ken and I participated in on Wednesday. We both wanted the last orange and we had to negotiate to see who got it. Originally we both wanted the orange but then Ken decided to ask me what I needed it for. It turned out that I needed the rind and he the pulp so we were both able to be satisfied. It was a win win. Each of us got what we wanted.

This is called creating value, this means that conflicts are opportunities to gain something. A perfect way to show this is the example of utilities. I needed the rind for a cake and Ken needed the pulp to make juice. Each of those, juice and cake, represent their own utility. Because we created value by each getting what we wanted, Ken and I each got 1 utility instead of part of a utility if we wouldn't have created value.

From this activity I have learned that negotiations are actually opportunities to gain something. And when you employ the correct tactics, they can be very useful.

Gtechnica and Accelmedia

In class today we practiced negotiation tactics. We were told that their was two companies; Gtechnica and Accelmedia. Gtechnica needed to sell 15,000 graphics cards and Accelmedia needed to buy between 10,000 and 18,000 graphics cards.

I was working for Gtechnica and I was told I needed to sell as many graphics cards as possible for no less than $16, because that was the net unit cost.

I sat down to negotiate with a representative from Accelmedia and when she asked how much I wanted to sell the cards for I said $37, because that was the price were selling them for elsewhere. She was a little taken back and said that $37 was way too much. She offered me $20 a piece. I could have taken that but I wanted a much better deal. I said how about 33 dollars a piece. She said she would take that deal, but she would only buy 10,000 units instead of the 15,000 I was supposed to sell. She said that for 29 dollars a piece she would buy 12,000 units. I was pleased with that deal but I wanted to sell the remaining 3,000. I then asked her if she would buy all 15,000 units if I lowered the price to $26. She took the offer and our negotiations were over.

After the activity was done we learned a couple new words. Reservation price is the price that I would not be willing to go below, in my case 16 dollars. The ZOPA(zone of potential agreement) was from $16 to $35. Accelmedia wasn't supposed to pay over $35 per unit. Our final negotiated agreement was basically in the middle of the ZOPA. BATNA means the best alternative to negotiated agreement. There was no BATNA in our example, but it means the option you have if you don't come to terms in negotiating.

If we were to do this activity again, I would set my reservation price really high, maybe $60, then just slowly come down from there to get the best price possible. This method is called anchoring. According to research it is one of the best ways to get the best deal when negotiating because it opens up the ZOPA and since most negotiations end up in the middle of the ZOPA, the final number would be much more in your favor.

Pemberton

In Tuesday's class we did an activity involving a town called Pemberton. We were told that there was 2 general stored located in Pemberton and that we owned one of them. There was a law that stated that we couldn't be open on Sundays. We still could, choose to stay open on Sundays and choose to bear to consequences.

The activity involved us holding up a sign that stated either, "Open" or "Closed" to show our competitor whether we were going to stay open on Sundays. My partner and I didn't have much of a strategy for the first round. We sort of just held up a different sign each time for the first 4 rounds. 

After the fourth round, we had a negotiation period. We negotiated to both of us stay closed on Sunday for the next 4 rounds. This would assure us both to receive a profit only. 

After those 4 rounds we had another negotiation period. We once again decided to both stay closed for the final 4 rounds. However, on the fourth and final round, which was a 4x multiplier round, we switched our sign and held up the "Open" one. This meant that our final profit was $260,000. This also meant that our competitor lost a lot of money and their final profit, well loss, was 40,000.

After we finished the game we were informed that it was actually modeled after the Prisoner's Dilemma game. We then went on to discuss that the trick was to decide what a "fully rational" person would do. This brings the human element into the game and makes it extremely hard to try guess the outcome of the person you are "playing" against.

Book Repoort 1, "Thank You for Smoking"

For my book report I decided to read the book Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley,Click here for the book's Amazon page. 

The book starts off by introducing the main character, Nick. Nick works for the cigarette companies. His job is to try they to keep the people who hate smoking away from his business. Everyday it seems that he finds new challenges to face.

The book is written through a narrator who, so far, is not revealed. The book starts out by setting the scene of where Nick works. Buckley talks about how his receptionist smokes more than even Nick does and can't make it through a sentence without coughing. A couple pages in Nicks boss Budd Rohrabacker, referred to as BR, Calls Nick into a meeting to discuss his position in the company. He asks Nick if he thinks he's earning his 105,000 dollar salary. Nick of course says yes and BR asks him about his newest plan to tackle the anti-smoking hysteria. Nick suggests to just come out and admit that smoking is bad for you. He then says that along with that they should say that in moderation smoking isn't much worse for you than say dairy products are for some people. I my opinion this would be a valid approach but BR rebuts by saying that it was the "stupidest idea I've ever heard." It seems to me that they have hit a roadblock and BR is searching for a miracle to get rid of the problem and Nick is just looking at it in a practical sense. 

Buckely then writes about a scene involving the MOD squad. The MOD squad is made up of the chief executives from tobacco, alcohol, and firearms industries. The MOD squad meets about once a week for lunch. Buckley says that the MOD squad even invites other spokespeople to lunch with them to promote camaraderie. Buckley then goes on to name these organizations and I found it very interesting just how misleading the names were. For example, The Society for the Humane Treatment of Calves represents the veal industry. The name makes it seem like they are the "good guys" but they are the ones who slaughter the calves.

The best part of the book comes next. Nick agrees to show up on the Oprah Winfrey show to talk about the tobacco industry and defend it. BR gives Nick the okay to do so but then also says that he needs to come up with a new plan to combat the anti-smoking hysteria. 

A few days later Nick is called into BR's office to share his new great idea. Nick's idea is to show more smoking in movies. He says that when smoking was in its most popular time, everybody in movies smoked. And since smoking ads are banned basically everywhere, Nick says this is the way to go. He wants to bring back the appeal that smoking used to have.

Immediately BR replies with, "I think we need to rethink your position here." Nick knows what this means. He knows that this means he is fired. However, BR still wants Nick to show his face on the Oprah Winfrey show to talk about underage smoking. 

When Nick gets there he talks a little to Oprah backstage and tries to get on her good side. Nick takes the stage and is seated next to a young bald boy. Nick asks what his deal is and is told that he has lung cancer from underage smoking. Nick tries to leave but it is too late and the show has already started, and he knows he get up and walk out on live television. Nick is immediately berated with anti-smoking talk and has to defend himself and the smoking industry.

So far I find the book very interesting. I myself am a smoker, which is how i picked the book, and I think its very interesting how misleading the cigarette industry tries to be. I also think its interesting how much hatred is felt towards them. It bothers me that people try to blame them for causing cancer and emphysema and other diseases. It's obvious that smoking is bad for you! Duh! If I developed cancer tomorrow I wouldn't blame the tobacco industry, I'd blame myself for being stupid.