Bro CEOs

[garbon]

I don't think companies should be using the excuse of 'well if you don't like it, don't come here.'

Why not, it's simply an extension of the "Don't like it, then quit" American managerial ethic.

True. Doubly so in this case where Uber fights to not even have them labeled as employees.

[The Minsky Moment]

A lot of these new business models mainly work because they circumvent existing regulation that protects customers or employees. The question we have to ask ourselves as a society is whether we rather want the regulation with its advantages (e.g. better employee rights) and disadvantages (e.g. artificial barriers to market entry) or the free-for-all with its advantages (e.g. cheaper taxis) and disadvantages (e.g. "gig-economy" with its precarious income). So I don't think the toxic culture in these companies is the problem, but rather that their main value-add seems to be to circumvent existing regulation through new sales channels.

The difference between the traditional business models (e.g. taxis or hotels) and the newer ones like Uber or airbnb is that the traditional businesses need government intervention to artificially raise the prices of the newer business models in order to compensate for the antiquated communications and bureaucracy of the older model.  Government could easily set a minimum wage for uber drivers and not impact Uber's competitiveness with traditional taxis at all.  The main value-added for the new business models is that they give the customer what the customer wants, for less.  Overturning that is probably not what governments should be doing.

For example:
In NYC there are over 13,000 taxi medallions, which is fewer than existed in the 1930s.  The prices for medallions went over $1 million and from the 70s till the Uber era were a far better investment than the S&P 500.  The government artificially constrained supply, and the benefits went to disproportionately capitalists in the old-fashioned Marxist sense - people who financed the purchase of medallions and monetized that value.  The owners then lobbied to keep the number of issued medallions down.  This problem was discussed for decades but nothing ever really happened except the black car services slowly grew, and every decade a handful of additional licenses would be issued.  The government and incumbent industry created a problem, and the market distortion they created paved the golden road for Uber.

[Josquius]

He creates the kind of company in which going to an escort bar with your colleagues, as Mr. Kalanick did in South Korea in 2014, according to recent reports, seems like a good idea.

....err....this is a pretty standard part of mainstream Japanese business culture. It seems likely Korea would be similar.

So maybe he should've started Uber in Japan or South Korea, and not LA.

He was in Korea though. Isn't it generally good practice to go along with the etiquette of the host country?

I'd be really curious to know if western companies have policies on this kind of thing.

[alfred russel]

I'd be really curious to know if western companies have policies on this kind of thing.

Of course they do. Good grief, Tyr. Don't you work for a western company? You can't bang hookers on the company dime just because you are in Asia.

[Josquius]

I'd be really curious to know if western companies have policies on this kind of thing.

Of course they do. Good grief, Tyr. Don't you work for a western company? You can't bang hookers on the company dime just because you are in Asia.

Big difference between banging hookers and going to a hostess bar.
The former is unacceptable on the company dime in Asia too. The latter is a pretty unavoidable part of business.

[CountDeMoney]

He creates the kind of company in which going to an escort bar with your colleagues, as Mr. Kalanick did in South Korea in 2014, according to recent reports, seems like a good idea.

....err....this is a pretty standard part of mainstream Japanese business culture. It seems likely Korea would be similar.

So maybe he should've started Uber in Japan or South Korea, and not LA.

He was in Korea though. Isn't it generally good practice to go along with the etiquette of the host country?

I'd be really curious to know if western companies have policies on this kind of thing.

The etiquette of the host country?  It was Uber people going to a titty bar; it's not like they were in town and  hosted by Samsung. It doesn't take policy to think, hmmm, maybe I shouldn't take a fellow female coworker to a titty bar escort club with me and 4 other dude?

Here's another question: are all of you really this fucking thick?

[alfred russel]

Here's another question: are all of you really this fucking thick?

Don't assume Tyr represents all of us.

[Jacob]

The games industry definitely has some of this going on.

[Valmy]

The games industry definitely has some of this going on.

I thought everybody was working 80+ hour weeks and thus had no time for strip clubs.

[Josquius]

Hostess bar!=titty bar

[Jacob]

Hostess bar!=titty bar

Yeah I think that point is going to be lost on a lot of people not familiar with hostess bars.

[Admiral Yi]

In Korea they're called room salons.  I've been to one where the laying of pipe was part of the entertainment.

[Berkut]

What is a hostess bar?

[Admiral Yi]

What is a hostess bar?

You and some other dudes go into a room with a table.  Your head dude talks to the madame, says how many girls and how much booze you want.  Girls show up, booze shows up. They pour your drinks, laugh at your jokes, sing some songs, maybe do some shots.  Maybe you grab a tit.  You do that for a couple hours then leave.

[CountDeMoney]

Hostess bar!=titty bar

Yeah I think that point is going to be lost on a lot of people not familiar with hostess bars.

So it's a titty bar without tits, where the dancers don't dance, but you're still paying them to sit with you--they just don't leave when it's their turn on the pole.
Yeah, so much more fucking elegant.