Akanksha Gupta's Profile

Interesting post Zach. As we see, every kind of content and respective media companies are evaluating their business model with the digitalization of this industry. I agree that they need to focus on their core strength of sports media however I struggle to see how in the long run, when the media can so easily be connected to end user with digitalization, these companies will be able to capture in any value in this chain. This will become even more difficult for media channels like ESPN that don’t have their own content as primary attraction of revenue stream. I wonder if they risk being eliminated by the content owners in the long run. What do you think?

Really interesting! thanks for the post TN. This is a really innovative way to reach the tier of the society that is currently unavailable to be brought into market by traditional means. In a way this is a positive spiral if the financing is so designed that the consumers are able to pay back and the cost of capital for the firm in question is lower than what is in Kenya. As you mentioned to make it possible to work the technology & product has to be something that directly improves the productivity of the family that purchases it. Any particular reason why you think this model (in conjunction with M-pesa/mobile money equivalent) is not replicable in other similar countries?

Hey Fransisco, great post! Infant with recent push in emerging economies like India to change to cashless economies this makes a lot of sense. Traffic congestion is a huge problem in India and the road infrastructure is lagging far behind to keep pace with growing number of cars. Full speed ETC’s will definitely help to some extent in reducing the issue. As we know, lot of infrastructure in terms of banking systems accessibility to all levels of society is required to make this change effective, however this is definitely the way to go. I also agree to the usage of the same to extend to traffic regulations implementation as otherwise more expensive resources of the country are spent on the same. I do understand the concerns shared by Craig and Adam on their post regarding the data privacy and data sharing. This needs to be addressed by means of resolution and data security however the use of technology should be implemented in my opinion specially in a resources starved countries.

Very interesting post Emily! Great to see the application of technology in this important sector to make it so much more efficient. Even greater to see that the technology is already being used. As such, state of agricultural productivity in most developing countries is far from what is envisioned here but what makes it exciting to me is at times the developing countries are able to “leapfrog” technology as the latest technology becomes prevalent in developed countries and I see potential of this being such case specifically as education levels and comfort with technology usage increase. As mentioned in Shipro’s post, financial accessibility will need to be addressed for making adoption feasible to smaller farm owners.

Very interesting article! I was not aware of this blockchain technology being used in business till very recently when I came across it in an article related to trade finance (link below). Diamond industry has an even more compelling case for using this technology given the traceability of diamond is so important and the fraud prevalent in the industry. Theoretically the concept is really good, however, I must admit that I don’t really understand how the physical good is actually verified with the data trail available virtually with the blockchain technology. Also, what is your opinion on ability of preventing fraud if the companies in the business have significant vertical integration present? Thanks!
http://www.afr.com/technology/cba-blockchain-deal-creates-the-future-of-trade-finance-20161021-gs7w98

Thanks for sharing the article on this technology. I wasn’t aware of mercury emissions as one if the issues with coal combustion and this technology to combat the same. As you mentioned about “Third Way” I suppose carbon capture technology would also fall under the same thesis and perhaps be a profitable business if and when the regulations become costly enough for this technology to be used by coal plants. However, as AvO mentioned, I share the same concern in terms of how businesses can ever be incentivised for employing such technologies without regulatory force. At some level, it seems markets have not been able to solve this problem. I do have reservations on making energy this costly also via regulations. There is a significant population that cannot afford high energy prices and thus reservations from developing countries in adopting these regulations. What’s your opinion on going about resolving this somewhat of a damn if you do and damn if you don’t issue.

Thanks for the interesting post NW (also an interesting blogging name!). The article gave a very good perspective on how huge the industry is how significant the industry footprint is. I thought this is one of the few industries wherein the incentive of lowering the carbon footprint is so directly aligned with direct profitability of the companies. Fuel is the the most significant cost for this industry and I think this is a classic example of how the most significant carbon footprint reduction in coming decades is expected to come from gaining efficiencies which in this case has led to design (wings design and engine designs) and process (infrastructure and RNP technology) efficiencies.

Thanks for sharing information on this technology N. Food wastage is definitely a huge cost in countries like India with very limited cold storage facilities and in fact is currently an area where lot of investment interest is being generated. I could see how cold storage units can perhaps directly use liquid nitrogen energy but I am not very sure why cold storage would be of particular interest as use of cold nitrogen ENGINE technology.
And related to cold nitrogen engine, I share the same concern on net carbon footprint of this technology and the scalability of the same. It will be great if you could share some insight on this. Thanks.

Thanks for the post Raphael, it is very informative for me to read about climate change affecting insurance business. In fact I was quite impressed to read the steps that AXA is taking to fight the threats to its business model. Incentivizing companies to adopt greener technology by means of investments shows the long term view on behalf of the company wherein most parties in regards to this issue are caught in free riders problem and not ready to take any costs unless mandated by regulations.

The suggested methods for shareholder value, perhaps I am not thinking correctly, seems to me in the long run as the disruptions become severe will eventually lead to collapse of the insurance business. If the premiums become too high that they become a high entry barrier for enrolling and then only very prone to damages like coastal areas may seek insurance which will start a downward cycle.

Thanks Philip for this fantastic post. It did not occur to me before that the change in climate conditions actually make these diseases more widespread. I held a view that it is mostly due to globalization and lot more personnel movement that has caused the diseases to be more widespread than what we used to come across before but I totally see now how climate change also plays a role.
For companies like pharma, after reading your post I do think what they do to reduce their carbon footprint is good but definitely their role in mitigating impact is so much more impactful. One area I do struggle is the line between moral, immoral and business for a company which becomes even more acute for pharma industry. By extension of logic that their ability to make a difference at the cost of profit makes it a moral obligation puts most business in the same bucket where they should be expected to do the same but because it is not so obvious in other business that it does not get noticed. Do you think legislation has any potential role to play to bridge this gap of societal expectations of the business and shareholders expectations for pharma companies?