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Tuesday | 07 October, 2008

How Supply fails Demand | Pots of Honey

So what plagues local business? In many cases it's the same problem we have in politics as well: there simply is the wrong paradigm. It is self-centered, rather than being other-centered. Or, if that sounds too much like marriage counseling, let's put it this way: too many sellers try to solve their own problems, rather than those of other people. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not how you can succeed in a market. After all, who likes to spend their money on other people's problems? Charity is not a business model, at least not in retail.

Now in the last few days, an email exchange that perfectly illustrates this problem. (Note: I changed names, and the person is not even local. But it demonstrates the perennial problem.)

----------------------------------------

Dear all, 

Many of you have purchased honey produced by my in-laws out close to Bakuriani. This year we have a bumper harvest and I can honestly say that the honey is even more delicious than ever. Its great with tea or over hot cereal and is especially effective at warding off colds. Most of the honey sold in the bazroba is adulterated with sugar water, but the one we offer is all natural. Price is 15 GEL per liter [around 10 USD], different sizes can be arranged.

Please contact me off list or call XYZ at 877-1234567 to arrange delivery. 

Cheers,
Anna 

-------------------------------------

From: Hans Gutbrod 
Subject: Re: honey for sale 
To: Anna 
Date: Saturday, October 4, 2008, 12:19 PM 

Hi Anna, 

I really liked the honey, but I think you'd market it more effectively if you sell it in small doses. The 1.5 Litre pot that I bought last year (or even the year before?) is still sitting in my apartment, and I am still scraping it...

I think if you sell it in 250g jars, maybe with a small cute label, for 6 GEL, with 1 GEL going towards the charity your husband runs, you'd have even more uptake. 
Anyway, I'd happily take 4 jars of 250 g each, and would pay extra for the jars.

Best, 
Hans 

-------- Original Message -------- 
Subject: Re: honey for sale 
Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 12:21:00 -0700 (PDT) 
To: Hans Gutbrod

Hi Hans, 

I've sold small jars in the past at the Christmas bazaar, but it's really not worth our time, not to mention the mess. We have 2 tons of honey this year! If you'd like 2 half-liter jars, I can do that. 

Cheers,
Anna 

--------------------------------------------

So effectily Anna (not her real name) is trying to solve her problem of 2 tons, rather than my problem of how
to consume that honey.



Pooh the Bear would be impressed.

Note the maths: 4 x 250g @ 6 GEL = 24 GEL; subtract additional cost for label and jars, and you still could make more than 20 GEL, an extra 5 GEL on the 15 GEL per liter. And that price is realistic, since the market that Anna is advertising to is NOT price sensitive, merely focusing on quality and convenience.

At least as important, Anna is cutting herself off from a natural extra market: honey as a nice gift in and from Georgia. A small, well-labelled glass of honey works well, it's a present that anyone would like to give and receive. Conversely, who will schlepp 1 liter pots anywhere?

These giant pots of honey to me are emblematic of why supply so often fails to meet demand. Sweetness undesired, at least in that shape and form. No wonder, then, that you still have so much foreign honey lining local super-market shelves. I sometimes even wonder whether these little stories and lessons are not at least as important in characterizing the business malaise than the larger economic explanations.

Any other instances you have come across? Any suggestions for how we could measure this phenomenon?
27.07.2015 | Monday

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After the collapse of the Georgian economy in the 1990s, the country slowly started to recover, and between 2000 and 2014, the gross national income grew from $3.4 billion to $16.7 billion (in current USD). According to the National Statistics Office of Georgia, the official unemployment rate in Georgia was 12.4% in 2014, but according to numerous surveys the rate is much higher.
06.02.2012 | Monday

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As the New York Times reports, on January 23, 2012 the French Senate “approved a bill […] criminalizing the denial of officially recognized genocides, including the Armenian genocide begun in 1915.” The bill has fanned tensions between Turkey and France, emphasizing the complexities of politics and perceptions.
14.03.2012 | Wednesday

Georgia and the EU’s Economic Woes

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06.04.2011 | Wednesday

Caucasus Barometer 2010 reveals Georgian attitudes towards Indians

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Can a Cut NATO Supply Route Through Russia Benefit Georgia and Azerbaijan?

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15.03.2010 | Monday

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In 2007 we wrote a blog post on the Big Mac Index, an index published by The Economist as an informal way of measuring purchasing power parity (PPP). The idea is that a dollar should buy you the same amount in all countries, and as a Big Mac is assumed to be produced in the same way everywhere it can serve as a point of comparison. You can thus determine how far off the exchange rate is between countries, in terms of citizens’ ability to buy the same “basket” of goods and services (in this case a Big Mac hamburger).
 
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Georgian Media as Business | Data Snapshots


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Tourism: Structure and Cost-sharing

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12.09.2008 | Friday

Doing business in Azerbaijan: easy in theory

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12.09.2008 | Friday

Credit Crisis in the Caucasus?

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02.10.2008 | Thursday

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03.10.2008 | Friday

Polling Data on Turkish-Armenian Bilateral Relations

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Focus on non-oil tax policy as oil revenues predicted to decline

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11.12.2007 | Tuesday

Mapping Development | WRI's "Funnel the Money"

The World Resources Institute, a global environmental think tank based in Washington DC, is providing maps that allow a visual comparison of data for the countries in the South Caucasus. Called "Funnel the Money", it seeks to chart development within countries, and also track allocation of resources from the central government by providing regional comparisons.
22.11.2008 | Saturday

EBRD Life in Transition Survey | worth analyzing!

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Debts and Loans in Georgia (Part 1)

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Debts and Loans in Georgia (Part 2)

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28.05.2018 | Monday

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10.09.2018 | Monday

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