Dear Colleagues, This really is a fascinating discussion. So fascinating that I feel compelled to make my first post - so please be gentle.:)
One observation to the comment on Branding. I'm not sure I agree with Kevin Jones (or maybe I just missed the context?) that > ...the pricing changes coupled to getting externalities to be included > in the cost of goods sold is a branding issue... I agree brand is important in terms of increasing the likelihood that consumers will pay a higher price for goods which cost more because of a pricing component which compensates for "externalities". In this sense a particular brand is providing some intangible value to consumers who buy into (or can be persuaded to buy into) the approach that Kevin outlined below. Brand is also doubly important in this context if particular organizations are acting in isolation in taking on this additional cost burden while competitive products or services continue to enjoy a free ride. However I'm guessing that regulation/legislation forcing or incentivising (maybe through tax breaks) all producers of a particular product or service to internalize some of the external costs of production - and therefore create a level playing field for all - plays a more important role here. Especially for products and services which are becoming more commoditized and consumers are therefore buying more on price than values or attributes associated with a particular brand. Just my 2 cents. Regards to all, John ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org provide more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html>
