Transaction Failed

Based on the previous post, a thought:

How do we stop thinking about “transaction costs” and, instead, start thing about *relationship costs* (or perhaps their glass-half full counterpart “relationship *value*”)?

2 Replies to “Transaction Failed”

  1. First off, love the “metaphors don’t buy product, people do” bit. Absolutely spot-on; and actually meshes with a point I’ve heard Doc make that the medical system treats “templates,” not individuals ( http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/doc/2008/06/19/differences/ ).

    On the “how” bit, well, that’s the big question, isn’t it? How do we evolve the common mindset that the “transaction” is the atomic unit of interest, instead of the relationship? How do we change the frame of reference that currently says “this transaction is only worthwhile to do if it is itself profitable” to something with a time and relationship component like “we want to look at the overall lifetime relationship value of the system – vendor and (individual) customer – and ensure that is of total value.”

    How do we move away from the zero-sum-game mentality in business?

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