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

Zašto konkurenti otvaraju radnje jednu pored druge? - Žak de Han (Jac de Haan)

Translator: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

Prevodilac: Anja Saric Lektor: Mile Živković

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

Zašto se benzinske pumpe uvek grade pored drugih benzinskih pumpi?

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

Zašto se vozim kilometrima da bih pronašao kafić,

and then stumble across three on the same corner?

a onda naiđem na tri na istom ćosšku?

Why do grocery stores, auto repair shops and restaurants

Zašto bakalnice, auto servisi i restorani

always seem to exist in groups

uvek postoje u grupama, umesto da budu ravnomerno raspoređeni po zajednici?

instead of being spread evenly throughout a community?

While there are several factors

Iako postoji nekoliko faktora koji mogu da utiču na to gde ćete otvoriti firmu,

that might go into deciding where to place your business,

grupe sličnih kompanija mogu biti objašnjene veoma jednistavnom pričom

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

called Hotelling's Model of Spatial Competition.

zvanom Hotelingov model prostorne konkurencije.

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.

Plaža je dugačka 1,5 kilometar i nemate konkurenciju.

Gde biste smestili svoja kolica kako biste prodali najviše proizvoda?

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

In the middle.

Na sredinu.

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

Šetnja od pola kilometra možda bi bila preduga za neke ljude

at each end of the beach,

sa kraja plaže, ali vaša kolica opslužuju što je više moguće ljudi.

but your cart serves as many people as possible.

Jednog dana dolazite na posao baš u trenutku kada vaš rođak Tedi stiže

One day you show up at work

just as your cousin Teddy is arriving at the beach

na plažu sa svojim kolicima sa sladoledom. Zapravo, on prodaje isti sladoled kao vi.

with his own ice cream cart.

In fact, he's selling

exactly the same type of ice cream as you are.

Dogovorite se da ćete podeliti plažu na pola.

You agree that you will split the beach in half.

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

Da vaše mušterije ne bi morale da hodaju daleko

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

postavite svoja kolica na 250 metara od sredine plaže,

right in the middle of your territory.

tačno na sredinu svoje teritorije.

Teddy sets up a quarter mile north of the center,

Tedi postavi svoja na 250 metara severno od sredine,

in the middle of Teddy territory.

na sredinu njegove teritorije.

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

Sa 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 severno od Tedija kupuju kod njega, a preostalih 50% u sredini

walk to the closest cart.

idu do bližih kolica. Niko ne hoda više od 250 metara,

No one walks more than a quarter of a mile,

and both vendors sell to half of the beachgoers.

i oba prodavca prodaju polovini ljudi na plaži.

Game theorists consider this a socially optimal solution.

Teoretičari igre ovo smatraju socijalno optimalnim rešenjem.

It minimizes the maximum number of steps any visitor must take

Smanjuje maksimalni broj koraka koje posetilac mora da napravi

in order to reach an ice cream cart.

kako bi stigao do kolica sa sladoledom.

The next day, when you arrive at work,

Sledećeg dana, kada stižete na posao,

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

Tedi je postavio svoja kolica na sred plaže.

You return to your location a quarter mile south of center

Vi se vratite na svoju lokaciju, 250 metara južno od sredine

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

i imate 25% mušterija južno od sebe.

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

Tedi i dalje ima sve mušterije severno od svoje teritorije,

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

ali sada delite 25% ljudi između dveju kolica.

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

Treći dan rata sladoledžija, stižete na plažu rano

and set up right in the center of Teddy territory,

i postavljate svoja kolica na sred Tedijeve teritorije,

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

misleći da opslužujete 75% ljudi na plaži sa vaše južne strane,

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

ostavljajući vašeg rođaka da prodaje preostalim 25% mušterija sa severa.

When Teddy arrives, he sets up just south of you

Kad Tedi stiže, stacionira se južno od vas

stealing all of the southerly customers,

preotimajući sve južne mušterije ostavljajući vas sa grupicom na severu.

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

Kako ne biste bili nadmašeni, pomerate se 10 koraka južno od Tedija kako biste

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

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

povratili svoje mušterije. Posle ručaka, Tedi se pomerio 10 koraka južno od vas

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

i ponovo vam uzima sve mušterije do kraja plaže.

Throughout the course of the day,

Tokom dana, oboje nastavljate da se periodično pomerate južno,

both of you continue to periodically move south

towards the bulk of the ice cream buyers,

prema masi mušterija,

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

dok oboje konačno ne završite na sredini plaže,

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

leđa o leđa, svaki opluživajući 50% gladnih ljudi na plaži.

At this point, you and your competitive cousin

Tog trenutka, vi i vaš konkurentni rođak dostigli ste ono što teoretičari igre zovu

have reached what game theorists call a Nash Equilibrium -

the point where neither of you can improve your position

Nešovim ekvilibrijumom - tačka gde niko od vas ne može poboljšati poziciju

by deviating from your current strategy.

Your original strategy,

odstupanjem od trenutne strategije. Vaša prvobitna strategija, gde ste oboje bili

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

250m od sredine plaže nije urodila plodom jer nije bila Nešov ekvilibrijum.

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

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

Svako od vas je mogao pomeriti kolica ka drugome kako bi prodao više sladoleda.

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

Sad kad ste oboje na sredini plaže,

ne možete pomeriti kolica bliže svom najudaljenijem kupcu

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

without making your current customers worse off.

bez da naškodite svojim trenutnim kupcima.

However, you no longer have a socially optimal solution,

Međutim, više nemate socijalno optimalno rešenje,

since customers at either end of the beach

jer kupci sa oba kraja plaže

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

moraju da hodaju više nego što je neophodno kako bi se zasladili.

Think about all the fast food chains,

Setite se svih lanaca brze hrane, butika tekstila ili kiosaka za mobilne telefone

clothing boutiques, or mobile phone kiosks at the mall.

Customers may be better served

u tržnim centrima. Mušterije bi bile bolje opslužene ako bi se usluge ravnomerno

by distributing services throughout a community,

but this leaves businesses vulnerable to aggressive competition.

rasporedile u zajednici, ali to čini firmu ranjivom na agresivnu konkurenciju.

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

U stvarnom svetu, mušterije dolaze iz više od jednog pravca

and businesses are free to compete with marketing strategies,

i firme su slobodne da se nadmeću sa marketinškim strategijama

by differentiating their product line, and with price cuts,

izdvajanjem svojih linija proizvoda, ili sniženjima,

but at the heart of their strategy,

ali kao srž njihove strategije, kompanije vole da drže svoju konkurenciju

companies like to keep their competition as close as possible.

što je bliže moguće.