Why do competitors open their stores next to one another? - Jac de Haan

Translator: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

Prevoditelj: Ivan Stamenković Recezent: Senzos Osijek

Why are gas stations always built right next to other gas stations?

Zašto se benzinske postaje uvijek grade pored drugih benzinskih postaja?

Why can I drive for a mile without finding a coffee shop

Zašto se mogu dugo voziti i ne naići na kafić

and then stumble across three on the same corner?

i onda naletjeti na tri na istom uglu?

Why do grocery stores, auto repair shops and restaurants

Zašto se trgovine, autoradionice i restorani

always seem to exist in groups

uvijek nalaze u grupama

instead of being spread evenly throughout a community?

umjesto da su raširene kroz društvo?

While there are several factors

Dok postoji nekoliko čimbenika

that might go into deciding where to place your business,

koji bi mogli pomoći u odlučivanju gdje će biti vaš posao,

clusters of similar companies can be explained by a very simple story

klasteri sličnih tvrtki mogu biti objašnjenje na jednostavan način

called Hotelling's Model of Spatial Competition.

nazvan Hotellingov Model Prostornog natjecanja.

Imagine that you sell ice cream at the beach.

Zamislite da prodajete sladoled na plaži.

Your beach is one mile long and you have no competition.

Vaša plaža je duga jednu milju i nemate konkurencije.

Where would you place your cart in order to sell the most product?

Gdje biste postavili kolica da prodate najviše sladoleda?

In the middle.

U sredini.

The one-half-mile walk may be too far for some people

Šetnja od pola milje možda je previše za neke ljude

at each end of the beach,

na svakom kraju plaže,

but your cart serves as many people as possible.

ali vaša kolica poslužuju maksimalan broj ljudi.

One day you show up at work

Jednog dana se pojavite na poslu

just as your cousin Teddy is arriving at the beach

baš dok vaš rođak Teddy stiže na plažu

with his own ice cream cart.

sa svojim kolicima za sladoled.

In fact, he's selling

Zapravo, prodaje

exactly the same type of ice cream as you are.

potpuno isti sladoled kao i vi.

You agree that you will split the beach in half.

Slažete se da ćete podijeliti plažu na pola.

In order to ensure that customers don't have to walk too far

Kako bismo osigurali da mušterije ne moraju hodati daleko

you set up your cart a quarter mile south of the beach center,

stavljate kolica četvrt milje južno od centra plaže,

right in the middle of your territory.

u sred vašeg teritorija.

Teddy sets up a quarter mile north of the center,

Teddy postavlja četvrt milje sjeverno od centra,

in the middle of Teddy territory.

u sred Teddy teritorija.

With this agreement, everyone south of you buys ice cream from you.

S ovim dogovorom, svi južno od vas kupuju sladoled od vas.

Everyone north of Teddy buys from him, and the 50% of beachgoers in between

Svi sjeverno od Teddya kupuju od njega, i 50% ljudi na plaži između

walk to the closest cart.

hoda do najbližih kolica.

No one walks more than a quarter of a mile,

Nitko ne hoda više od četvrt milje,

and both vendors sell to half of the beachgoers.

i oba prodavača prodaju polovici posjetitelja plaže.

Game theorists consider this a socially optimal solution.

Teoretičari igre smatraju ovo optimalnim rješenjem.

It minimizes the maximum number of steps any visitor must take

Minimizira broj koraka koji bilo koji posjetitelj treba napraviti

in order to reach an ice cream cart.

kako bi došli do kolica sa sladoledom.

The next day, when you arrive at work,

Sljedećeg dana, kada stignete na posao,

Teddy has set up his cart in the middle of the beach.

Teddy je postavio kolica na sred plaže.

You return to your location a quarter mile south of center

Vratite se na vašu lokaciju četvrt milje južno od centra

and get the 25% of customers to the south of you.

i dobijete 25% mušterija koje su južne od vas.

Teddy still gets all of the customers north in Teddy territory,

Teddy i dalje dobije sve mušterije sjeverno u Teddy teritoriju,

but now you split the 25% of people in between the two carts.

ali sada dijelite 25% ljudi između dvojih kolica.

Day three of the ice cream wars, you get to the beach early,

Trećeg dana sladolednog rata, dolazite rano na plažu

and set up right in the center of Teddy territory,

i postavljate kolica u centru Teddyevog teritorija,

assuming you'll serve the 75% of beachgoers to your south,

pretpostavljajući da ćete posluživati 75% gostiju na plaži s južne strane,

leaving your cousin to sell to the 25% of customers to the north.

ostavljajući vašem rođaku da prodaje 25% mušterija sjeverno.

When Teddy arrives, he sets up just south of you

Kada Teddy dođe, postavlja se južno od vas

stealing all of the southerly customers,

i tako ukrade sve južne mušterije,

and leaving you with a small group of people to the north.

i ostavlja vam malu grupu ljudi na sjeveru.

Not to be outdone, you move 10 paces south of Teddy to regain your customers.

Da vas ne nadmaši, mičete se 10 koraka južno od Teddya da vratite mušterije.

When you take a mid-day break, Teddy shuffles 10 paces south of you,

Kada napravite pauzu, Teddy se pomiče 10 koraka južno od vas

and again, steals back all the customers to the far end of the beach.

i ponovno krade sve mušterije na kraju plaže,

Throughout the course of the day,

Kroz čitav dan

both of you continue to periodically move south

oboje se nastavljate pomicati južno

towards the bulk of the ice cream buyers,

prema većini mušterija,

until both of you eventually end up at the center of the beach,

dok oboje eventualno ne završite na sred plaže,

back to back, each serving 50% of the ice-cream-hungry beachgoers.

leđa o leđa, svaki služi 50% ljudi na plaži željnih sladoleda.

At this point, you and your competitive cousin

U ovom trenutku vi i vaš rođak

have reached what game theorists call a Nash Equilibrium -

dosegli ste ono što teoretičari zovu Nashova ravnoteža -

the point where neither of you can improve your position

točka gdje nijedno od vas ne može poboljšati svoj položaj

by deviating from your current strategy.

ako mijenjate trenutnu strategiju.

Your original strategy,

Vašu originalna strategija,

where you were each a quarter mile from the middle of the beach,

gdje ste oboje četvrt milje od sredine plaže,

didn't last, because it wasn't a Nash Equilibrium.

nije trajala jer nije bila ravnoteža.

Either of you could move your cart towards the other to sell more ice cream.

Bilo tko od vas mogao je pomaknuti kolica prema drugom da proda više sladoleda.

With both of you now in the center of the beach,

Sada kad ste na sredini plaže,

you can't reposition your cart closer to your furthest customers

ne možete se približiti najudaljenijim mušterijama

without making your current customers worse off.

bez da naškodite trenutnim mušterijama.

However, you no longer have a socially optimal solution,

No, više nemate društveno prihvatljivo rješenje,

since customers at either end of the beach

jer mušterije s oba kraja plaže

have to walk further than necessary to get a sweet treat.

moraju hodati dalje nego što je potrebno da bi se osladili.

Think about all the fast food chains,

Razmislite o svim lancima brze prehrane,

clothing boutiques, or mobile phone kiosks at the mall.

buticima odjeće, ili prodavačima mobitela u tržnom centru.

Customers may be better served

Mušterije će biti bolje poslužene

by distributing services throughout a community,

raspoređivanje usluga kroz zajednicu.

but this leaves businesses vulnerable to aggressive competition.

Ali ovo poslove ostavlja ranjivima agresivnoj konkurenciji.

In the real world, customers come from more than one direction,

U stvarnom svijetu mušterije dolaze iz različitih smjerova,

and businesses are free to compete with marketing strategies,

i trgovine su slobodne natjecati se sa marketinškim strategijama,

by differentiating their product line, and with price cuts,

diferencirajući linije proizvoda i snižavajući cijene,

but at the heart of their strategy,

ali u srcu njihove strategije,

companies like to keep their competition as close as possible.

tvrtke žele zadržati konkurenciju što je bliže moguće.