106. "Dead Ahead: Using Logistics to Describe the Grateful Dead"

ABSTRACT

To business theorists, the Grateful Dead are interesting from a number of perspectives. They were the highest grossing concert band in history, organizing an average of 77 concerts each year over a thirty year period. Moreover, they were known for their innovation and world-class customer service, two attributes of particular interest to modern logistics managers. One way of approaching the Grateful Dead's achievement as a business enterprise is appreciating the degree to which they resembled an organizational hologram (Mackenzie, 1991). More than just a means of assessing logistics management, the organizational hologram also provides a paradigm for understanding part of the overwhelming commercial - and artistic - success of the longest-running, top-grossing rock band in US history.