Writings by Tom Connor

• Thinking Forward

  • A Descartes Lunch

    Work colleagues introduced me to a sandwich shop in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA a number of years ago. “Wow”, I thought as I stood observing the menu board behind the counter that must have had over 80 items and their prices. I was concentrating and only somewhat aware of the clerk asking, “What would you like?” This board had a lot of information and a rational decision meant it had to be absorbed. Although it was just one more decision in the day, decisions take thought and reasoning, or so I thought.
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  • A Lesson From the Best

    With about $43 billion in cash on its books at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2005, the Berkshire Hathaway Corporation has the means to have just about any web site known to man. When a startup web development company sent a letter (http://www.matr.net/article-6751.html) to the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway offering their services to develop a new design to improve the aesthetic appeal of the site, they received a quick response from CEO Warren Buffett. In a handwritten note, Mr. Buffett explained his approach and that the company web site was suitable for the company's intentionally plain style. ...
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  • A Little Ado About Moats

    In days of old when Knights were bold, life could be tough. As a matter of fact the rich and powerful built castles and moats to protect themselves and their valuables.
    But as they built stronger castle walls and wider moats, their adversaries responded to the challenge. Today the utility of these moats is mostly as scenery. But, the story of moats and the protection they provide isn’t over.
    People still build defenses today. In the world of business these are economic moats. Just as the defenses in the ‘old’ days would be attacked and new ones developed, so today firms respond to challenges and new moats are created that defend competitive advantage. ...
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  • Certeris Paribus, or "All Things Being Equal"

    Traditionally, economics is the study of how we choose to allocate scarce resources among alternative uses. Attention is often on complex processes as it is with other areas of human study. To create useful analysis where human intelligence can gain understanding we abstract, that is we simplify and hold constant elements not considered critical to the analysis. The Latin, ceteris paribus indicates these assumptions. Recently, much has been learned about human thought processes and the neural system, resulting in new perceptions of human thought and the decision making process. The assumptions about choice are changing.
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  • Customer Values

    The Internet is a communication channel that is maturing rapidly. Like many technologies, first acceptance is usually among technical users. However, numerous studies demonstrate that as the ease of use and user friendliness of a technology matures, it brings in non-technical users. For the Internet, usage by non-technical people has been exploding. It is no surprise then to see the commercial aspect of the Internet growing as people’s comfort and reliance on this technology increases. ...
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  • The Value of Money

    At a recent lunch I attended, the discussion turned to money. People were asking, “What is money? Is it worth anything?” My answer - that depends on you.
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  • Trust Matters

    Trust has only recently become an area of interest to economists. Traditional views of economic growth have analyzed physical and financial inputs of production: the labor force and its capabilities, capital and the financial resources to instigate and sustain investment, market size and protection, and foreign exchange, amongst others. The role of institutions has often been included to the extent they affect allocations of these inputs.
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Tom Connor's background is in economics. He has consulted to Fortune 500 companies, trade associations and government agencies. He has also had responsibilities in strategic planning, international marketing and program management with a major computer vendor.
Throughout his experience with technology users, from large organizations to small businesses, there is always a challenge to choose the level of effort and sophistication applications need. Whether the choice be of forecasting methodology, the commitment of resources to ad hoc questions and reports, or the aesthetic look of a web site, users have to make decisions. With the huge increase of non-technical users as the Internet and other online technologies grow, communication and the emergence of techniques and methodologies that improve communication between message senders and message receivers is emerging as a new area.
As online technologies change the way we communicate knowledge of the changes and the way we use them will grow - providing us with more choices and new opportunities.