Business of addiction, and eras of the internet (Spam Mail #28)

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💎 Word gems

🎧 Juul and the Business of Addiction (The Verge: Decoder / Nilay Patel & Lauren Etter)

It’s worth listening to the audio for this one. It dives into the strategy that led to the rise of Juul in a highly regulated tobacco industry, reckoning with the issues of nicotine addiction, and the challenges the industry is facing today. Etter synthesis the debate with a simple fact: e-cigarettes have resulted in an increase in teenagers developing nicotine addictions.

So why not give them a better, less harmful alternative that doesn’t involve combustion? And that’s the e-cigarette. So it sounds great. I will point out that there haven’t been enough long-term clinical studies to show that there are zero adverse health effects. I think most people agree, and most studies show, that there is a net benefit if you quit smoking and only use e-cigarettes. A lot of e-cigarette users also continue to smoke cigarettes. That’s called dual use. If you’re an adult smoker and you just switch from cigarettes to Juul, for example, you’re probably better off in the long run. The issue revolves around the kids, teens, and young people who become attracted to the product and develop a lifetime nicotine addiction. If you can separate that controversy out from the adult usage issue, then the industry would be okay.

Killing Strategy: The Disruption Of Management Consulting (CB Insights)

This article calls out how management consultancies are slow to change, making them at risk to disruption much like any other industry. Accurate or not, this piece does dive into the shift from manual data analysis to data insights services, and the democratization of frameworks.

When the “tools of the trade” are publicized — when holes are poked into the black box — clients are empowered to ask more questions, expect more rigorous performance benchmarks, and have more of a say in negotiating what they feel is a fair deal. By demystifying the management consulting process, books, classes, and blog posts bring more transparency to the marketplace of ideas.

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