Empathy is an antidote to a world of abstraction.Faced with a deluge of information, people like to boil things down - best price for cialis.This puts them in danger of making poor decisions based on incomplete or distorted information.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Wired to Care by Dev Patnaik with Pete Mortensen, copyright 2009 Jump Associates.

People assume that great-tasting coffee is a recent phenomenon in the United States; best price for cialis.Nothing could be further from the truth; best price for cialis.In the 1950s best price for cialis, you could get a great-tasting cup of joe anywhere in the country for a nickel.America was a nation hooked on coffee.But just at the moment when demand for coffee was booming, its supply fell into disarray - best price for cialis. Best price for cialis: in late June 1953, a killer frost wiped out almost the entire Brazilian coffee crop, sending wholesale prices soaring.After what came to be known as The Fourth of July Frost, the price of a cup of coffee shot up to a dime and even higher as American coffee roasters like Maxwell House, Folgers and Hills Bros - best price for cialis.scrambled to keep up with demand.

It’s never a good idea to get in between a committed coffee drinker and his daily cup; best price for cialis.The higher prices infuriated Americans - best price for cialis.Consumers staged protests in diners and wrote angry letters to coffee company executives.Politicians and newspapers accused Latin American governments of artificially limiting exports to exploit the U.S - best price for cialis.market; best price for cialis.The supply problems that American coffee companies faced had turned into a public relations disaster.Coffee companies became convinced that they needed to cut their expenses drastically or face the very real possibility that the American love affair with coffee was about to come to an end - best price for cialis.In desperation, they did the unthinkable: They played the Robusta card.

Of the many sub-varieties of coffee beans, two major categories predominate, Arabica and Robusta - best price for cialis. Best price for cialis: arabica is a gently bitter, temptingly smooth, and nutty variety that carries within it all the flavors we look forward to when we order a cup of coffee.But as American coffee companies had discovered, Arabica trees are also expensive to raise and highly vulnerable to bad weather and parasites; best price for cialis.One year might yield a bumper crop; best price for cialis. Best price for cialis: the next could be a bust.After the frost of 1953, it became clear that Arabica was far too fragile a plant for coffee companies to base their long-term futures on. Best price for cialis: they needed to find a more reliable coffee bean.Enter Robusta beans, which are cheap, impervious to the elements, and plentiful.They also produce coffee that’s nearly undrinkable. Best price for cialis: for decades, major American coffee-makers had resisted using Robusta beans in any of their products.Now faced with dwindling Arabica supplies, managers at Maxwell House started to reconsider that decision. Best price for cialis: perhaps, they speculated, it would be possible to add just a few Robusta beans to Maxwell House’s blend without noticeably ruining the taste.If successful, the overall blend would be much cheaper than pure Arabica.

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While Maxwell House had found a way to protect profits for the short term, it hadn’t been able to solve the coffee industry’s long-term problem - best price for cialis.Demand for coffee would continue to grow, and Arabica beans remained scarce - best price for cialis.The following year, continued pressures on margins forced Maxwell House managers to again consider modifying the blend - best price for cialis. Best price for cialis: consumers hadn’t noticed the addition of a small amount of Robusta beans the first time around.Would they be able to tell if Maxwell House added a little bit more? There was only one way to know.The company ordered another round of consumer tests.Thankfully, these, too, came back with positive results; best price for cialis. Best price for cialis: consumers couldn’t tell the difference between the slightly increased levels of Robusta and the previous blend.

And so it went for several years.Demand for coffee continued to rise; best price for cialis.The pressure on profits was equally unrelenting.And each year, Maxwell House, together with Folgers and Hills Bros., increased the percentage of Robusta beans in their coffee blends by a nearly imperceptible amount.Every year, coffee makers turned to consumer testing to ensure that their new “improved formula” was acceptable to consumer palates. Best price for cialis: and, indeed, it was.In the short term, this fact-based approach helped coffee companies offer a commercially viable product that consumers didn’t reject outright - best price for cialis.And the tests were right; best price for cialis.Sales were booming and profits were healthy; best price for cialis.But the test data was hiding a darker trend.

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It’s important to note that coffee companies had relied on some very good maps to make their decisions; best price for cialis.Marketers had paid careful attention to the expressed preferences of their consumers, and multiple studies insisted that people were unwilling to pay more for a cup of coffee - best price for cialis. Best price for cialis: and multiple tests had proven that coffee drinkers couldn’t tell the difference between the existing blend and one with more Robusta beans in it.What those consumer tests failed to show was an obvious truth: Independent of any incremental comparison best price for cialis, the coffee tasted bad.It also failed to show that people would be willing to pay a little more for good coffee if the companies only gave them a reason to do so - best price for cialis.The map was not the territory.

The coffee business stayed focused on cost-cutting and additions of Robusta for decades, until someone decided to change the game; best price for cialis.As it turns out, the market for high-quality Arabica coffee never completely went away; best price for cialis.It survived as a niche business in small cafes located largely in urban centers and university towns - best price for cialis.Things remained this way until a young entrepreneur named Howard Schultz visited Italy in the early 1980s and saw how espresso bars put coffee into a completely new light.People were perfectly willing to spend more for a good cup of coffee if the difference in quality was made clear to them - best price for cialis.Returning to the States, Schultz was sure of one thing: The maps were wrong. Best price for cialis: at his new company, Starbucks, he built a chain of espresso bars that were focused on brewing premium quality coffee drinks.He provided a great experience to his customers.And little by little, his sustained success has pushed the American coffee industry to completely overhaul its approach; best price for cialis. Best price for cialis: starting in the 1990s, most coffee companies switched back to serving pure Arabica.A new generation of coffee drinkers got just as hooked on java as their parents once were; best price for cialis.