[quote author=althea link=topic=14922.msg144246#msg144246 date=1205910723]Forgive my ignorance……

I just interviewed Kris and we discussed this. I’ll have the podcast up in about an hour.

Sam

For Kris to post a 3-page rant about how Commission Junction is acting “unfairly” is both extremely childish and unprofessional. Welcome to the world of competition and big business Kris.

Also PJ does stuff for business reasons that I don’t approve or agree on. Some stuff is on my list to talk about with PJ when I get around it. I just didn’t had a chance yet. It’s nothing urgent so there is no need to push it.

I share “my love” and “rants” equally and even give CJ kudos where kudos are due and appropriate. The incident with CJ and PJ is a case of very unethical business practice, which is, sorry to say that, not surprising me too much. I thought things would be a bit different with Kerri on the controls, but that is a different story.

CJ did what they did, in the same way as they conducted business in the past, internally and externally. The reasons for developing such not so favorable business culture are not simple and easy to explain, but they are certainly hard to break away from, once it established itself deeply throughout the entire company.

Insecurity is only one cause for what they did (or how they did it), but there are several others more.

I also say that the insecurity part is more of a new thing that only emerged over the recent year or so. It is also the least they can need right now.

It makes things only worse than they already are. I still have some hopes that CJ will be able to overcome those insecurities and rid itself of some of the practices from the past and head into the right direction, but that hope was significantly reduced because of this latest incident.

I would like to spank CJ if that would be possible, because this might be just the thing needed to get their attitude and confidence straightened out and CJ as a company back on track.

The first thing that happen is that they withdraw their threatening ultimatum to the advertisers in question, because no matter how fierce competition might be and the business tough, unethical and immoral remains unethical and immoral.

This industry is still way to small to blame a cold and body less entity such as “a corporation” for this. It is still people against people.

It might be “easy” to push a button here where you know that it will cause death and suffering to faceless people you don’t know and never met, but it is not “easy” to pick up a gun and shoot a person right in front of you. You better have a damn good reason to do so to be able to find your peace of mind or you become despiteful as a person and human being.

I think you have summed up the situation really well – as has Jangro.

Kris and Brock definitely can’t claim a ton of outrage on the “aggressive” yactics and “cold calling” perpertrated by CJ against PJ clients. Kris and Brock have been known to be “aggressive cold callers” on their own as well as recently as with the launch of their network.

I can definitely see a bit of both sides here – lots of “gray area” for sure.

As to whether CJ is doing the right things, I think they have the right to take actions against any company who is not only a direct competitor, but more or less an insider. How can a company become,
-an affiliate
-a program manager
-a network
and still have insider access to merchant info on CJ?

I have heard that PJ is actively recruiting affiliates to switch networks and utilizing merchants accts within CJ to recruit affiliates to bail on CJ.

Where does PJ’s fiduciary duty lie?
To the merchant?
To their network?
To existing affiliates?

…just draw the line some where.