Ride the Lightning

VENDOR CODE OF COMPETITION: WHAT DO YOU THINK?

March 11, 2009

A reader asked me to post the following for comment. Please reply privately to my e-mail address and I will post your reply if desired. And because I know I will be asked, I do not permit comments because I don't want flamers or flame wars on this blog. But I am very good about posting serious comments!

Is it a rational idea to have a Vendor Code of Competition that would allow for EDD vendor CEOs to all agree to place comparative marketing information in the public domain – and agree not to threaten or sue other vendors if they market according to FTC rules and applicable advertising law?

There are firms today that threaten other competitive firms for any type of competitive marketing comparisons. Many times these threatening efforts stop smaller firms from competitively marketing, not because they are doing anything wrong – but because the smaller firms have neither the desire, time, or resources to contest the request of the threat. This anti-competitive behavior not only hurts  the smaller firms – but ultimately hurts the end users – clients who may or may not make different choices if they understood the comparitive facts and had a chance to address those facts with both vendors – so they (the end user) could make fully informed decisions. Moving these comparisons out of the office (where they do occur) into the public domain (online/print) would benefit all except those who are truly not transparent and honest about their firm's capabilities.

Any thoughts on how such an approach – such as public agreement to a vendor code – or any other approach/suggestions that would help achieve the same objective would be very much appreciated? Honest, straightforward, and legal comparisons should not be constrained by the lack of desire to contest threats of further legal action. Let good, legal presentation of info – a standard that we all should adhere to – be the rule and not the exception. And let the best tools for each EDD challenge be addresed by its own merit in relation to other offerings – regardless of the size of the legal budget of those firms involved in comparisons.

Thoughts?

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