Common Law of Business Balance
Encyclopedia
The Common Law of Business Balance is a meditation on price attributed to John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...

. It reads as follows:
"There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person's lawful prey. It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money -- that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot -- it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better."


This is a classic quote on the possible folly of automatically choosing low cost as the best way to make a purchase decision. It appeals to those who believe, or who want to persuade others to believe, that price is a possible indicator of quality.

The common Law of Business balance should also involve and embrace the seven P's of marketing a business, product or service identified: product, price, place, promotion, people, packaging and positioning. For without such how can any business, institution or organization claim to be "balanced". It is also fair to say, do not forget the "balance sheet" another good example of the common law and general practices of balance. [Paul Branson - InfoGurushop.Com]

This is one of the basis used in evaluation of prices in bidding situations by Purchasing
Purchasing
Purchasing refers to a business or organization attempting for acquiring goods or services to accomplish the goals of the enterprise. Though there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between organizations...

 and Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management
Supply chain management is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers...

 professionals and used as reference in one of the Modular Learning System from the ITC United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body. It is the principal organ of the United Nations General Assembly dealing with trade, investment, and development issues....

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