rmaurer

All,

I'm a Stanford PhD student who studies organizational theory and strategy and am conducting a joint project with Daimler's research group on the changing nature of affluence in America. Right now I'm looking for affluent individuals (I'll get to what that means in a second) in the Bay Area who would be willing to sit down for a 1-1.5 hour interview. These are ethnographic interviews, so I'm largely interested in what you have to say. That said, we would mainly be covering issues related to luxury, consumption, lifestyle, mobility and how (or how not) the car industry is meeting your needs.

It's difficult to construct a formal definition of affluence given that you don't just go around asking people about their net worth and income. So, for the purposes of this project, I'm looking for people who could comfortably afford car in the 80k and up range. The purchase shouldn't be something that would cause financial headaches or worry. Note that you don't have to have actually spent this much money on a car. It should just be easily possible for you. There are plenty of millionaires in Palo Alto driving older and/or much cheaper cars.

I'm especially eager to squeeze in an interview in the next week. So if you would be willing and have time (this week or at a later date) please let me know. I've done projects like this before and most people really enjoy the interviews. And, I'd be happy to buy you a beer afterwards.

Thanks,
Ralph

rmaurer@stanford.edu