EE's Profile

I echo with @Edwards sentiments on the importance of developing relationships with State Governors and Senators to lobby potential import duties that could seriously impact the firms price competitiveness. Moreover, if the situation escalates further Samsung could call on international organisations, such as the World Trade Organisation (W.T.O). I recall a similar situation in 2003, were the W.T.O. ruled against steel tariffs that President George W. Bush had imposed following a comparable trade case. Ultimately the US chose to withdraw those measures rather than face retaliation from its European trading partners. Nonetheless, given the current backlog of trade disputes the W.T.O. faces reliance on this strategy could prove unreliable.

Great synthesis!
With regards to your question on how Maersk can best move forward and the possible applications for smart devices with autonomy and control functions in the maritime shipping in light of security concerns. I think the most important and powerful control will be recognising that facing the potential of the IoT, things should not be done just because they are possible. In other words the most powerful control, will arguably be simply deciding whether or not to connect things to the internet. The firm should exercise some restraint and arguably limit the connection of safety critical equipment.

Thank you for drawing attention to this issue, Brexit is certainty top of mind for most Brits!
I would like to add that the UK government is very conscious of these concerns. In addition to reducing travel restrictions (aforementioned above), the Prime Minister has revealed further details about a 10-point plan to help boost British industry after the uncertainty of Brexit and the loss of EU funds, including investment in science, research and innovation. R&D in the UK will be one of the main beneficiaries of these steps, which include a total of £4.7 billion in additional funding and grants for companies and research organisations. AZ should actively seek such funding.

With regards to virtual R&D, I certainly do not have any expertise in this area but it is sounds like an interesting concept. There is definately scope for virtual data rooms (VDR) to keep R&D secure, while allowing for sophisticated yet simple information sharing. Many of the tools that come built into a VDR are a natural translate into the application of virtual R&D.

I would like to echo JJFGs comments, I believe they need to commit to the Amazon partnership.
Nike’s top rival Adidas also appears to have a partnership with Amazon and seems to have a unique landing page on the site. If Nike is not proactive in embracing this trend, they may find themselves left behind the pack. Moreover, Nike’s products could already be found on Amazon via unlicensed and licensed third-party vendors. In light of Adidas’s activities, Nike should ensure they place restrictions on how its products are marketed on the site and leverage the potential aforementioned additional revenues.

In addressing customers perceptions of recycled goods and climate change initiatives Adidas could involve customers directly in the problem solving process. Nike has been very successful at this by partnering with partnering with MIT on a crowd-sourcing platform called “Climate CoLab”, encouraging citizens to work with experts and each other to create, analyze, and select detailed proposals for what to do about climate change. By seeking submissions on how apparel companies can design, create, and adopt low-impact textiles, Nike hopes to leverage collective-thinking to influence the industry as a whole. Adidas could leverage a similar approach to mitigate against negative consumer reactions.

I share your sentiments on the impact of Tiffany’s sustainability policies, and also question the impact claimed by existing initiatives. Most notably LEED certifications which the firm has utilized as a scorecard have recently been called to question. Most recently, papers have highlighted issues with the LEED rating method, for instance its failure to account for the building’s performance over its projected life. Moreover, few academic studies have examined the process of LEED self-reporting and scoring within a professional setting, even though contingencies such as common business practices and human limitations clearly affect a project’s LEED score. In light of this I would encourage Tiffany to be more ambitious with its initiatives, whilst critically assessing the scorecards it utilizes.