Boycotts work!

But hey, don't take my word for it! The findings of a Stanford university's research claims that boycotts actually work. And not only that, they work pretty well too.

A recent post by my good friend Moey on his blog Hyperventilating. Suggested that boycotts don't work.

Many others have voiced their ideas about boycotts (sorry if I missed anyone, please remind me if you know any more)

Now,  that I read a Stanford university scientific research into the matter that focused on facts. Not speculation. 3 year market case study and documented results. And mind you, this is done by the prestigious "Stanford School of Business" and Strategic Management professors

I do understand every one's frustration about things, especially when you can't see direct results. But apparently, Boycotts work great.

As from my humble personal experiences. If these boycotts didn't work you wouldn't find industry Giants worried about their reputations. Spending billions to cultivate positive PR, be it through charity work, environmental and social activities or disaster relief and support. Company's image is everything! Ask Philippe Morris and they will tell you how much their name cause, and how many billions (>280) they're spending and will spend to improve that!

When the Boycott Danish products was at it's peak. Denmark suffered. Yes they did. They did to the point that the political views have shifted. Again, don't take my words for it, ask how many Danish people have visited or tried to calm the Muslims down. Now don't tell me ALL did it out of their good heart. If that was the case they wouldn't have been "surprised" at the beginning!

But at least the Danish people's response was way better than Americans which keep the puzzled look on their faces and continuously ask "Huh? Why do they hate us!?". The Danish were proactive and understood the nature of the problem. But with a little "encouragement" from the boycott

I guess, this is everyone's chance to show their true colors. Are you going to boycott? Are you going to boycott companies that poison our water, air, food? Are you going to boycott companies that manufacture weapons or support companies that manufacture weapons that kills millions? Are you going to boycott companies that start wars and later on benefit from Oil and reconstruction and all their domain...?

Most importantly, are you going to boycott companies that DIRECTLY finance and support the army that is terrorizing the middle east, committing atrocities every single day against Lebanon and Palestine?

My advice, if you don't do it because you believe, do it in support-of and solidarity with your fellow humans. You don't know WHEN you're going to be in their shoes, and if anyone would boycott the hair gel company that ruined your highlights

Now Chavis and Leslie’s study provides some hard figures to demonstrate that the specter of a boycott should generally give managers and executives cause for alarm.

— Marguerite Rigoglioso

Some references
Article http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/stratman_leslie_boycotts.shtml
Study(pdf) http://www.stanford.edu/~pleslie/wine%20boycott.pdf
Stanford Graduate School of business: http://www.stanford.edu/~pleslie/wine%20boycott.pdf
Philip Leslie (Assistant Professor of Strategic Management)