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I have a very different take— -Mr. Lynch advertises for KMK on a site that he has poured many hours of work and creativity into over the years. Mr. Lynch does this based on an agreement, that, in fact, relies heavily on the merchants honest reporting of sales, a metric Mr. Lynch, does not have on his own. The balance of power in this relationship is strongly favoring KMK. -Mr. Lynch learns that KMK is not, in fact, honoring its contract, this he learns from a small admission from KMK. The balance of power shifts slightly in favor of Mr. Lynch. -Mr. Lynch reaches out to CEO of KMK, who effectively tells Mr. Lynch to pound sand. Escalating the conflict, and retaining position in balance of power. -Mr. Lynch continues pressing CEO, threatening losses that a reasonable CEO would not want to incur, as well as the guarantee that this cheap problem will continue to consume the bread maker-CEOs time. KMK, in a moment of clarity signals that it is open to alternative solutions without admitting fault, by effectively posing the question, ‘What do hope to accomplish?’. Balance of power is basically equal at this point. -Mr. Lynch and KMK CEO settle on $88 to make Mr. Lynch whole. Both are mutually satisfied to never conduct business together again. At this point Balance of power is now strongly in favor of Mr. Lynch, as he has recuperated the $88, but more effectively, he has won the conflict. Using the leverage that was ironically what KMK valued most as an affiliate partner, he nukes the bridge he just crossed as a demonstration of force, but more importantly send a message to the market, ‘you don’t screw over your affiliate partners’. Some may say it was twisting the blade a little too much, some may say it was in bad taste. I say it was Sherman-esque; harsh, but necessary, so long as he didn’t take obvious pleasure in his brutality. |