Hi Just an observation from somebody working in the commercial world concerning the factors driving commercial purchasing decisions.
While the sticker price of something is always an issue in the commercial world it should be noted that labor (time) is expensive (>=$100/hour is typical) (unlike academia where time seems to be considered to be close to free). This means that companies typically look at the total return on investment, factoring in time costs as well as upfront costs. In my experience companies in fact often DON'T go with the free option because they are concerned with the costs associated with not being able to get good support or documentation. Companies will pay serious money for training if they perceive that they are getting a good return on their investment. In fact, a company may avoid SC in favor of a more expensive commercial training provider on the grounds that, since SC relies on volunteers, it cannot be trusted to provide training or support when the company wants it. Dominic -----Original Message----- From: Discuss [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Joseph Long Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2015 9:51 PM To: Matt Davis; Ethan White; Erik Bray Cc: Software Carpentry Discussion Subject: Re: [Discuss] Workshops for Corporations Hi Erik, It's a matter of both stated mission and the way the organization is, well, organized. A corporation has an obligation to produce money for its owners (which could be individuals or many shareholders) by charging money to customers and minimizing the costs of delivering what customers want. The difference between the costs of providing what the customers want and the price they are willing to pay is the profit, which is returned to the owners or shareholders. In the context of Software Carpentry, it is in any company's best interests not to pay for things they could get for free. (Or to part with money they don't have to.) A cheaper training course means more money in the owner's pocket. In contrast, for a non-profit organization, a cheaper training course means more money to pursue their stated mission: the promotion of science, education of students, study of public health, or what have you. Not only are they more *likely* to spend the money they saved on their stated mission, they are legally required to as a consequence of their organization and tax classification. It is my view, and evidently that of the steering committee as well, that it is worthwhile to provide a discount to organizations whose mission is producing work in the public interest, rather than money for shareholders. I'm somewhat confused why you think JHU and Harvard are operated for-profit. They use money from donations and investments to produce students, research, events, etc., but their decisions are ultimately not driven by a need to maximize profits for an owner or owners. Best, -- Joseph Long ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Matt Davis <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at 5:49 PM To: Ethan White <[email protected]>, Erik Bray <[email protected]> Cc: Software Carpentry Discussion <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Discuss] Workshops for Corporations We are indeed planning to rely on tax designation for the purposes of categorizing hosts. We want to keep it relatively simple. All hosts, for- and non-profit, are permitted to ask for fee waivers/reductions based on need. - Matt On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 2:41 PM Ethan White <[email protected]> wrote: On 03/31/2015 03:36 PM, Erik Bray wrote: > One thing I'm wondering is, under this program, how a "for-profit > corporation" is defined. I have absolutely no clue about corporate > law so maybe this is very simple. However, I for one would consider > something like Johns Hopkins University a for-profit corporation (no > matter how it presents itself otherwise). Or Harvard for that matter. > At the same time, I don't feel that way necessarily if an individual > department in the university with a limited training budget is the > host. So, I'm a little confused. But maybe that's just me. > I think the best way to handle this is to rely on the official tax status of the organization in the organizations home country. So, in the US, they would need to be a 501(c) organization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501%28c%29_organization (typically 501(c)(3)), which almost all universities are. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org
