Organizations and Markets

Color Me Beautiful

1 June 2007 at 9:25 pm Peter G. Klein 1 comment

| Peter Klein |

The most popular colors on national flags are white and red, followed by blue, green, and black. Click here to see how the analysis was done, and to play a fun game of “identify the flag” (click on the pie charts to reveal the flags). (HT: SMCISS blog.)

I wonder how much of this clustering is explained by path dependence? The flags of many former European colonies are, of course, based on the mother country’s flag.

Here’s another interesting example of chromatic clustering: corporate logos. The graphic below (click to enlarge) ran in the June 2003 issue of Wired, in a feature called “The Battle for Blue.” This blurb accompanied the graphic:

Companies spend millions trying to differentiate from others. Yet a quick look at the logos of major corporations reveals that in color as in real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. The result is an ever more frantic competition for the best neighborhood.

I use this example in class to illustrate Hotelling’s law.

Entry filed under: - Klein -, Institutions, Strategic Management, Teaching.