Krugman posting with ‘Geography’ in the title

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/fashion-and-geography/

He is an academic economic geographer, BTW

He writes:

Anyway, there’s a nice WSJ article today about the interesting case of the fashion chain Zara.

What makes Zara interesting is that its strategy, which is based on using IT to make its stores extremely responsive to changes in consumer taste, has actually worked against globalization:

Stores are stocked with new designs twice a week. Collections are small and often sell out, creating an air of exclusivity and cutting down on the need for markdowns. The company ships clothes straight from the factory to stores. Unlike competitors who manufacture most of their wares in Asia, Inditex makes two-thirds of its goods in Spain and nearby countries such as Portugal, Morocco and Turkey. The retailer says the higher labor costs are offset by the flexibility of having production close to its warehouses and distribution centers, which are all in Spain.

 

 

I am too am an unfortunate customer of Sprint, stuck with my contract

http://consumerist.com/359678/inside-the-sprint-customer-service-meltdown

BusinessWeek has a truly excellent article about the customer service meltdown that lead to Sprint’s current notorious reputation for poor customer service. The article sums up what we’ve been reporting over the past year: After the Sprint/Nextel merger, “customer service” was essentially destroyed as a concept at the new company. The CSRs were rigidly timed and judged only on how short their calls were and how many contract extensions they were able to bring in. Even bathroom breaks were monitored, one ex-Sprint CSR told BusinessWeek.

Coverage isn’t so good either. But, I get a discount through my employer, and I do have a reasonably priced plan, so what do you do? Why did I wind up with them in the first place… I guess at the time I was living somewhere else, and they didn’t suck.