Tag: Applied anthropology

Gone in a Quibi: A case for anthropology in business?

Gone in a Quibi: A case for anthropology in business?

Quibi’s demise—just six months after the premium short-form smartphone-focused streaming service went live—made headlines last week. Company founder (and former head of Walt Disney Studios) Jeffrey Katzenberg claimed the COVID-19 pandemic held sole responsibility for Quibi’s $1.8 billion failure. As is usually the case, the reality is much more complicated. The Quibi fiasco makes a good case, I think, for ethnographic research in business. When Quibi launched in early April, my senior year of college had just moved online. Like {+}