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Good note when talking about large businesses and org-wide initiatives. It's easy to forget (looking from the bottom-up) that when you're surveying from the to

by ethbr0 4y ago

Good note when talking about large businesses and org-wide initiatives. It's easy to forget (looking from the bottom-up) that when you're surveying from the top-down, there are always alternative places to spend $1. So it isn't enough to make >$1 in return for every $1 invested, you have to offer better return than the other things the company could be doing with that capital. F.ex. in retail, there's an everpresent alternative of investing in logistics and warehouse automation, which saves the business a LOT of money

MuffinFlavored 4y ago
> So it isn't enough to make >$1 in return for every $1 invested, you have to offer better return than the other things the company could be doing with that capital. And the big thing now (at least I think it is, although I don't have any proof that companies are actually doing this) is... https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/sectors/sp500-companies-stockpile-1-trillion-cash-investors-want-it/ https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/sectors/sp500-compa... I don't think every one of these corporations is going to take 100% of their cash on hand and stash it into 10 year bonds overnight... But I'm lead to believe some variation of this is happening. Corporations can make 3-4% risk free + short term. If you work on a project that doesn't bring the company at least 3-4% ROI after it's all said and done (you, your managers, all expenses, etc.)... why are you owed a job? Very cruel and mean reality, right?
vishnugupta 4y ago
> alternative of investing in logistics and warehouse automation, which saves the business a LOT of money That was my best educated guess. For long, Amazon invested in payments believing it to be a differentiator and also to spin it off into its own business unit. The payments division at Amazon is huge. But after two decades of not going anywhere with payments business they seem to have thrown in the towel and focus instead on physical logistics side of e-commerce.

by ethbr0 4y ago

MuffinFlavored 4y ago

> So it isn't enough to make >$1 in return for every $1 invested, you have to offer better return than the other things the company could be doing with that capital. And the big thing now (at least I think it is, although I don't have any proof that companies are actually doing this) is... https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/sectors/sp500-companies-stockpile-1-trillion-cash-investors-want-it/ https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/sectors/sp500-compa... I don't think every one of these corporations is going to take 100% of their cash on hand and stash it into 10 year bonds overnight... But I'm lead to believe some variation of this is happening. Corporations can make 3-4% risk free + short term. If you work on a project that doesn't bring the company at least 3-4% ROI after it's all said and done (you, your managers, all expenses, etc.)... why are you owed a job? Very cruel and mean reality, right?

vishnugupta 4y ago

> alternative of investing in logistics and warehouse automation, which saves the business a LOT of money That was my best educated guess. For long, Amazon invested in payments believing it to be a differentiator and also to spin it off into its own business unit. The payments division at Amazon is huge. But after two decades of not going anywhere with payments business they seem to have thrown in the towel and focus instead on physical logistics side of e-commerce.