101 Things I Learned® in Business School (Second Edition)

What is at stake for the audience? A speaker can easily assume that matters of importance to them are of equal concern to listeners. But audiences usually need to be shown what they have at stake. A presentation will be most effective if the audience and speaker have common stakes.

When the prices of some luxury or prestige items have been lowered, demand for them has fallen due to consumers perceiving reduced cachet.

Business costs can be categorized very generally as material costs or human costs. However, material costs have human costs embedded in them. For example, the price of an item purchased at retail has embedded in it the costs of all previous labor, profit, licenses, transportation, tariffs, etc. When a product is traced back to its physical origin—a

If you can’t do free, try doing inexpensive, in which case your secondary product might behave as a core product. Printer manufacturers, for example, often sell their printers below or near cost, knowing that buyers will return again and again to buy refill cartridges.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy provides for the financial reorganization and continuation of a company that has insufficient cash to meet current debt obligations, but healthy assets, markets, or other indicators of profitability.

If all options appear equal, get more information.

Consequently, a business may be short of cash until payment is received.

Technological obsolescence means that new technologies have superseded old technologies; however, the older device may still perform reliably, quickly, and safely. Although having the latest and best is appealing, it is often better to push old technology to its limits than to feel obligated to invest in the new.

Trademark: a distinctive word, phrase, image, sound, fragrance, or combination used by an individual or business to distinguish its goods. Registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office results in formal legal ownership and is indicated by ®. The symbol TM indicates an unregistered trademark for products, while SM indicates an unregistered