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Solving the Internet's Congestion Problem

Harvard Business Review

Congestion, rather than raw usage, is the key driver of this phenomenon; given that the Internet Service Provider network is largely a fixed-cost asset. Like any fixed-cost asset, such as the Interstate highway system in the U.S., it is cheap to operate and expensive to upgrade.

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Does Your Startup Have a Spending Strategy?

Harvard Business Review

So not only were the current fees too weak to support his fixed costs, but future clients were turned off by his apparently excessive tastes. To address those cost overruns, Colin subleased some space, cancelled a redundant and very expensive trading service, and let one person go. What is your business’ core competence?

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Health Systems Need to Completely Reassess How They Manage Costs

Harvard Business Review

The middle layers spend their entire days in meetings or on conference calls, traveling to meetings outside the hospital, or negotiating contracts with vendors. In larger facilities, there is often an astonishing proliferation of special care units, ICUs, and quasi-ICUs that are expensive to staff and have high fixed cost profiles.

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What BMW’s Corporate VC Offers That Regular Investors Can’t

Harvard Business Review

And the fixed cost from “touchpoint-to-pilot” are immense. For example, in the case of a $100 million CVC fund, which can close five to 10 investments a year, these costs typically range from $1 to $2 million per startup — not including the administrative and variable costs of the pilot itself.

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Solving the Internet's Congestion Problem

Harvard Business Review

Congestion, rather than raw usage, is the key driver of this phenomenon; given that the Internet Service Provider network is largely a fixed-cost asset. Like any fixed-cost asset, such as the Interstate highway system in the U.S., it is cheap to operate and expensive to upgrade.

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The U.S. Media’s Problems Are Much Bigger than Fake News and Filter Bubbles

Harvard Business Review

The media’s bias toward big events stems from three features of its economics: Fixed costs. The cost of covering a golf tournament doesn’t depend on whether Tiger Woods plays. Fixed costs have always been central to the economics of media. But if he does, ratings — and revenue — double.

Media 11