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Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock, describes the thinking behind Worldstock, his mechanism for marketing third-world artisan products. (Link from InternetStockBlog.)
The central problem of artisan production and liquidation are indistinguishable: How does one marry scattered small-lot production to mass demand? Because their central problem is the same, the structure of the liquidation market is precisely that of the market for artisans’ goods. His conclusion:
Artisans around the world have trouble reaching their natural markets due to poverty, poor information, and the disadvantage of being small-lot producers in an age of high technology and mass distribution. Yet they are capable of making exquisite centerpiece products. These artisans could feed their families, vaccinate their babies, and send their children to school, if we in the developed world were to purchase the high-quality goods they know how to make. We realized that Overstock could bridge this global gap.
This looks like another dimension of The Long Tail phenomenon.
posted by James DeLong @ 9:06 AM | Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation
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