Letter from George Friedman on Stratfor Premium Reports
Dear Reader,
Some questions have come up about our decision to charge additional fees for the full report on the Post-China 16 (PC16). I'd like to address why this was necessary and reasonable.
Our web site is dedicated to keeping you abreast of unfolding geopolitical events and we consistently do that, we hope to your satisfaction.
However, Stratfor, like most publishing companies, has always produced more extensive and detailed reports on a variety of subjects. These are not intended for the general reader, whose primary interest is in the broad trends. That companies formerly producing in China are moving into a particular country is something that we have informed you of. The great depth of detail collected to inform this conclusion is not a matter of interest to most of our readership.
The report we prepared for those interested in doing business in these countries has far more information and is much lengthier than appropriate for our website product, and speaks to an entirely different audience. The website is for the general reader. Reports such as these are meant for specific organizations that need far more information to do their jobs.
We have frequently provided more detailed follow-on reports or premium reports to these organizations. We decided this time to do something different and offer them for sale to whoever might be interested on our web site. You can read more about our different products here: http://info.stratfor.com/access/. This report is offered at a deep discount to what we normally charge an organization.
It's also important that you bear in mind that we have a substantial staff and that we receive no grants or gifts from anyone. We are a self-sustaining company dependent on revenue to provide our product.
The one thing I guarantee you is that there is nothing in our premium reports that contradicts or is at variance with the reports provided on our web site. They simply go into much greater detail.
From this you can obviously see that customer satisfaction means a great deal to me, and I want to hear of any issues or confusion concerning our product. Write to us at any time using responses@stratfor.com.
Sincerely,
George Friedman
Founder & Chairman
Stratfor
221 W. 6th Street, Suite 400
Austin, TX 78701
