This experiment is what it is. From the website:

“Every company in our fund was chosen because of the user experience they provide. Here is specifically what we looked for:

* 1. A demonstrated care in the design of their products and Web site

* 2. A history of innovation

* 3. They inspire loyalty in their customer base

* 4. Doing business with them is a positive experience”

The experiment is about usability – nothing more. The stocks were picked in part by the crowd – ethics of business conduct was not a consideration as far as I can tell.

Ironically, when I said above that “being customer focused to me is an indication of good management, and good management…well…that makes stocks go up” I took that reasoning from a company called Innovest. They are an environmentally facing research firm. They audit many companies based on the ethics of the way they do business. I had a friend who worked there. He described their angle as follows: companies that demonstrate environmental leadership have good management because intelligent people are concerned about planet earth. Acting responsibly, is a sign of good management and good management makes stocks go up. That is probably the worst job of paraphrasing possible, but you get the idea.

So with that said, it would seem you are implying that some companies in the experiment (Nike for example) have a history of being unethical . Fair enough, but I think that goes outside the scope of the experiment (i.e. it is focused only on Usabilty), and the idea behind the experiment is what I find interesting…truth be told I did not look at the stocks chosen, to me it is the experiment that is interesting and commendable. Further to that, I did not publicly put up over $50,000 of my own money to test a thesis based on my convictions and relying on the “crowd” to choose the direction of the test (i.e. the websites). Courageous to say the least.

As for my comments for building shareholder value, as I said I believe that good management and closeness to your customer are cornerstones of value building. I still do.

John lavishes Nike with praise even though they contract work out to sweatshops and you think they rock and yet you think they rock? Would you also support companies which stand for everything environmentalists are against if they deliver a “great user experience”? Is the almighty dollar so dear to you that you can turn a blind eye to human suffering and flagrant abuse?

http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/sweatshops/nike/faq.html

Wake up.

I don’t believe you can accurately measure the ROI of UX at a micro level. For example, what will the benefit be if we redesign or change this page? I believe a committment to UX is company wide and it returns at a macro level.

I hope, if this is successful, it will provide a case study for all Web professionals to present to clients about the ROI of UX

check it out http://www.teehanlax.com/uxfund

Geoff