Word: chain
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...penalized for being a seller stuck in low-traffic, low-price Bismarck or a buyer shopping in high-cost Manhattan. Auctions also minimize transaction costs ("friction" in e-commerce-speak) and eliminate the need to operate bricks-and-mortar stores. Online auctions "wring out the inefficiencies in the supply-chain process," says FairMarket CEO Scott Randall. They also benefit from Metcalfe's Law (named after Robert Metcalfe, the founder of 3Com Corp.): the value of a network increases by the square of the number of people on it. Every time a conventional online retailer adds a new user...
Beyond the religious significance of Christmas, I have always loved its tacky excesses: the plastic decorations, chain-store elves and TV spectaculars that feature talking reindeer, children's choirs and ads with Santa flying down a hill on a Norelco razor. But a couple of years ago, I had a midnight epiphany at Wal-Mart. Weighed down by sporting equipment and plastic toys, I realized that I had bought more gifts than anyone on my list could want or need and that it wasn't good for their spirits--or mine...
While rivals like CVS and Walgreens are enjoying record profits, the nation's second largest drugstore chain is saddled with billions of dollars in debt and caught in the crosshairs of an SEC investigation into its questionable accounting practices. For months the bad news has been relentless: In mid-October the board forced out CEO Martin Grass and announced that pretax profits for the past three years would be revised downward by $500 million. Then just before Thanksgiving, the chain's longtime auditor, KPMG, bolted after refusing to re-examine its client's books. Says Edward Comeau, an analyst...
...wattage sufficient for the job. This is difficult to combat gracefully. By joking about his own temper, John McCain not only helped defuse the issue but also picked up some points for being self-deprecating. In the early Clinton years, Gore managed to seem less like a piece of chain-saw sculpture for a while by going on talk shows to make fun of his own woodenness. But if you're running for President, making fun of yourself for being dumb is, well, dumb...
...VIDEOTAPE If yours is like most families, you'll be renting movies to watch together this holiday season, to help get into the spirit. What kind of spirit? In a poll for the video chain Blockbuster, 1 in 3 respondents cited It's a Wonderful Life or White Christmas as the film that best represents their typical holiday experience. Another 1 in 3 named Home for the Holidays, Home Alone or Beavis and Butt-head Do Christmas as most representative...