I sent this e-mail to Jeffrey Tucker, but in case our (my friends and I) idea never sees the light of day, I hope it might benefit someone. Here it is, in it’s unadulterated form, please give me your critiques, thoughts and suggestions!
Hey Tucker,
A few of us site goers think it would be interesting if the Mises Institute would occasionally request to have interviews with entrepreneurs, or representatives of such from companies small and large. Ludwig von Mises told us that in the absence of state intervention (which I hear about far too much now) economics primarily concerns itself with the praxeological analysis of human action. That said, should not the Mises Institute be examining these things more often? True, the state interferes everywhere it can, and also consequently butts in even where it cannot, but it would be nice to hear, even on occasion something of a more optimistic note. Despite all that the Leviathan does, laissez-faire laissez-passer has not been defeated and continues to provide us with the luxuries that can and will one day become necessity. Even in it’s corrupt and blackened condition, the market still performs.
So why not examine the men and women who, in the Misesian sense, act? More and more companies it would seem are returning to the lost art of trying to satisfy and expand their customer base. The video game company Nintendo, for instance, was up until a few years ago third place in popularity in the console market, though dominant in it’s handheld sector due to competitors not being able to trump their product (until the introduction of Sony’s PlayStation Portable in 2004). The reason was largely to their arrogant behaviour of literally telling customers and developers that it was the company’s way or the highway; most chose the highway. This all changed when the young Satoru Iwata, a video game designer, was given presidency over the company and almost immediatly provided an ambitious and dramatic change in business model. Noticing the shrinking number of persons interested, and the isolated position of Video Game Nerds, he proposed they should focus on making products that were both accessible and enjoyable to the most possible amount of persons. Their first attempt was the Nintendo Duel-Screen (DS), a handheld touchscreen gaming device that, after a quick cosmetic change, attracted the elusive female, adult and even elderly while still retaining the original young male demographic. The DS is today the fastest selling and, perhaps soon to be the best, selling product ever in it’s market. Quite a feat when no one said it could be done! After the immense success of the DS, Iwata’s next vision was a home console that could do what the DS did for those less potable inclined. They called it “Wii”, a marketing name to indicate it was for everyone. Featuring a motion sensing remote controller similar in feel and design to that of a TV remote, but with far less buttons, it removed the psychological barrier of entry that plagued many adults from touching a video game. Naturally, they were comfortable with a television remote, and it worked! Now Nintendo has soared from third place to a strong first in less than 4 years. No help from the government (with the exception of intellectual property which could be giving Nintendo an undeserved monopoly on innovation!), no subsidies, no anti-trust against their evil competitors, they did it by simply doing unknowingly what Mises’ Liberalism prescribed, means and ends that would bring about the greatest freedom, and material well being for the greatest amount of persons. Now, Nintendo faces it’s next problem, can it hold onto it’s nerd base while trying to appeal to the masses? We will see. The great thing about free enterprise is that there will always be someone who wants to supply to your demand. Microsoft’s X-Box 360 appears to be doing just that for the hardcore who feel somewhat alienated from Nintendo’s new strategies.
Forgive the rant, but I think you get what I am trying to say. let’s cover the miracles of the market. there are new bits of light appearing everyday even amidst the gloom. As far as interviews go, I think many companies always have representatives on hand, you could start with Nintendo, but that’s just my preference. Heck, even just articles featuring their workings would be an enjoyable, intellectually stimulating read. (And when I say intellectually stimulating, I don’t mean the printing out of “IQ” points, the state’s disproved method of measuring wit)
Thanks for reading it all,
Christopher Michael Hettinger