I think the "MBA-driven physical-goods enshittification" is a simplification and a cop-out because this is not just MBA-driven. This is across the board in all of society, and I believe the reason being that people, in general and enmass, are not being taught how to live with active critical analysis, and as a result when they choose an enshittificating decision, they do not realize it. They are not connecting the ramifications beyond their own mini-benefit. This is with the entire general population.
Making physical goods low quality, cheap, and therefore disposable is the equivalent of rent seeking.
Instead of growth and innovation, it’s how can the Company get recurring revenue after first sale.
The balance for the Company is finding a quality to price point ratio where either 1) the customer doesn’t care if it breaks because it was cheap and they know it’s cheap or 2) it’s cheap and breaks but the utility of it to the customer warrants (or with some goods, necessitates) them buying a replacement.
In the second case, the trade off would also include brand risk, but in the world of Amazon and TEMU, you can just sell the same thing under a new random name, there is no brand identity.
a simplification and a cop-out of what? blake, i am writing a hn comment and not an academic textbook
> This is across the board in all of society
ok but the article is largely about physical goods, that's what we're talking about
> I believe the reason being that people, in general and enmass, are not being taught how to live with active critical analysis
lmao i clicked on your bio and just knew i'd see MBA in there. maybe there's something that has happened to institutions that do this teaching. maybe it's because they, too, have mastered business administration
I've got multiple degrees, and the presence of an MBA invalidates my opinion?
I'm serious when I say this is not just "MBA think", this is everywhere. People are being short sighted. People are not thinking things logically through, and this is widespread.
Yes, we're talking physical goods. Items where short sighted thinking destroys brands, exactly what the original post discusses. It's too easy to just blame the MBAs. This is a widespread issue that is not just in physical goods, it is at the core of what is required to sustain democracy - a critical thinking population. We've educationally failed the population en mass by not having education verticals that stress perspective. We only teach short term perspectives as meaningful and worth action, and all this is coming home, today.
Those that should be able to talk sense in the critically short sighted decision makers have not been taught how to make their points and be understood. That is real, and widespread. Continue to label the cliche and get no where. We need to recognize this critical failure, because it is destroying one hell of a lot of foundation we need.
You're getting downvoted because a huge chunk of HN spends their 9-5 making things worse with a fuggit attitude because that's what their KPIs incentivize.
Those MBAs didn't come out of nowhere. They answer to C suites who answer to boards. They have to weigh their decisions against the cost of customer attitudes and employee morale. The fact that we get the outcomes we do indicate this is a top to bottom societal problem.
