I want your idea

[conor912]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

how about why customer service sucks so bad within so many businesses?!

I bet it's by design!!!!

I agree. I'd love to understand why sellers who want my money think they can be a douchebag and I'll still spend it with them.

[tschock]

Brent,

A ) What drives the baseball card hobby and how to turn that into a successful business model
B ) Business model root causes for the increase in minor league attendance
C ) Variances in classic supply and demand within the card collecting hobby
D ) Numerous other great ones already mentioned

[cyseymour]

Just for the record, I didn't post my ideas to forward any sort of political agenda. The OP said that he would love to find an idea that is related to the hobby, but he didn't make that a prerequisite.

One problem with doing a dissertation that's in the hobby is that, depending upon who the professor is, they might not take it seriously enough or find it sufficiently academic. Not saying that is my viewpoint, just that it's a risk.

[steve B]

Which aspect of business are you most into?

There are some interesting topics that are very math involved. Like
Optimal Inventory levels - For the hobby that could be based on hometown team vs popularity vs performance and portion of a players career.

Or as some have mentioned, more social topics.
Maybe player value based on public perception/popularity? For example - I'd bet the Pats sold enough Tebow stuff to cover his preseason pay with a decent profit leftover. OR in baseball, the value of keeping Bonds or Arod until a milestone is reached compared to the impact of public disfavor with the player.


Or on the customer service/sales side

Given an uncommon product just how bad can you be before profits/sales are reduced unacceptably.

Or outside the hobby, how to sell a more expensive but longer lasting product enabling you to pay higher wages but to fewer people. As an example, my first TV when I was on my own was one my family bought in 1973. It lasted a bit over 20 years before I replaced it with a similarly sized one. which also lasted around 20 years. I don't expect to get that much time from my new one, maybe half as long. Things are similar but worse for DVD players, computers, cell phones and even cars. And how much of our consumption society is driven by a created "need" for features making a 3-4 year lifecycle of a product in the $300-1500 range acceptable.

Steve B

[mark evans]

Maybe the whole issue of self-policing industries...why the process works in some areas but hasn't taken hold with regard to sports cards and memorabilia.

[cyseymour]

One potential bbcard topic, however: The role that social media (in this case, message boards) has taken in exposing fraud in the hobby.

[brewing]

Thanks for the input.

I posted here to get ideas related to the hobby or baseball.

I like the minor league attendance topic.

I've thought about tpg's but I know my research would be slanted. I'm an SGC guy.

I'm open to more ideas that are related to the hobby or baseball. Just those please.

[Texxxx]

Lots of good ideas here. I want make suggestions as far as specifics. My only suggestion is to have a topic that your doctoral committee would be interested in. If they don't like it then it want fly to well.

[deucetwins]

Idea #1: Role of traditional scouting vs. Sabrmetrics (statistical analysis) in developing a major league roster with a sub topic on the impact that Sabrmetrics team building has had on free-agency. (I know, "Moneyball" and other books, but still interesting). Have the farm systems changed due to this?

Idea #2: Provide a convincing argument that is "for" the use of steroids and PEDs in professional sports. This will drive the purists mad.

Idea #3: I kinda like the business model idea for card shops. A comparison of several small mom and pops and how they stay afloat (what they sell (new or vintage, local, regional, or national, multiple sports, etc), clientele, and how they change or don't change business or marketing strategy to adjust to economic turns) as compared to big volume online sellers with no traditional brick and mortar front. Or a combination of all of the above. I would read it.

[Eric72]

Fraud within the hobby and its negative effect on PPF, GDP, and economic growth. Many similarly illegal activities, such as the drug trade, have been considered in this light.

[JLange]

How about taking a fresh look at baseball card / collectible valuations? They have no intrinsic value like a security, and yet some sell for thousands of dollars and hold (most of) their value year after year. There are clearly supply and demand issues, but also issues related to the sales channel (auction houses, eBay, shows, private sales, etc), advertising and marketing (online and hard copy catalogs, press regarding "the Card" and rare finds, etc), and TPGs and trustworthiness in the transaction. There's also CPI and inflation in the background, presumably increasing the value of (at least some) cards regardless of supply. Also, I think it curious that the so-called heyday of baseball card collecting was the late 80s to early 90s, and yet the nation has added fully 55+ million people since that peak. Are there really less collectors (driving demand) today than back then? Finally, I for one would like to better understand the market segmentation (collectors, investors, speculators, registry competitors, etc) along with the various niche collectors (type card, team, player, set builders, subset builders, etc.). There are so many questions just around these topics alone. Good luck!

[arc2q]

Brent-
I like the idea of wrapping your interest in baseball cards into the doctoral dissertation. You're going to spend much of the next several years agonizing over this dissertation -- it helps to research and write about something you enjoy. It will help you get through it.

I've given some passing thought to weaving baseball card collecting into a dissertation. I think it is a good idea - especially since it sounds like you're working on a PhD in a business field. Dissertations have to be unique, so it is not a problem to focus on a potentially niche topic like baseball cards. But, academics can also be dismissive of "less serious" topics in dissertations so it has to be carefully constructed.

Maybe you could analyze the relationship between scarcity, luxury goods, and profit using baseball cards as just one example. Card companies are possibly unique in that they are driven to make a profit by increasing demand and, consequently, increasing supply. But increasing supply to meet demand ultimately decreases demand. Cards are a disposable, faddish commodity that have no intrinsic value -- therefore the maker is motivated to sell as many as possible to maximize profit. But flooding the market quickly diminishes demand because the perception of value evaporates (e.g., the early 90's). Baseball cards are neither a luxury good, nor a commodity, nor a purely market-driven product.

In fact, no one really knows why they have value.

Possibly analyzing perceived value trends over time will reveal some idea of why baseball cards have value and what businesses can do to maximize profit while cultivating the perception of value. I don't think our lay assumptions about why baseball cards have value is necessarily fully understood. Has anyone really ever statistically modeled it?

[EGreenwood]

How about moving the K12 from hardcopy books to digital books