Kei Nishizaki's Profile

Very interesting read! This is a great example of how technology can maximize value of an already existing facility. As Brian mentioned, I think these idea can appeal to wide range of generations and have potential to turn people’s steps toward the zoo. I also really hope that the technology will be used not only for people coming to the zoo but for the better living situation of animals.

What I thought interesting is that this Echo’s technology is not fundamentally different from Apple’s Siri or Google’s Android but differentiates itself by having an exclusive hardware. I felt that this device can become a part of our lifestyle. I wonder why Apple and Google do not have such device. My concern is that the entry barrier seems to be relatively low (especially for companies like Apple or Google). I feel that continuous business effort is necessary for Amazon to continue to be different from its rivals.

I remember that I used to play Monopoly often as a child. Actually, I did not know that Hasbro was teaming up with EA and they have Monopoly apps. As a strong brand, I believe they have a huge potential to succeed in the digital area. However, I have the same concern as Joana, that if they go too much on digital, Monopoly’s brand recognition and value can decrease (because I believe that the real value of the brand is generated by the analog board game). As an old fan of the board game, I hope that the analog version will not disappear.

Interesting post! As a reference, public transportation in Japan is highly developed (all the major cities offer railway service) and is said to be very safe. Every railway is surveyed by several systems including sensors, but I think the main reason why it is so safe (e.g. Shinkansen has never caused a serious accident since its inception in 1964) is that of the highly structured operation. Technology can certainly help to enhance safety, but I believe that just by itself it will not be sufficient; human capital and operation management is also an important factor.

Very interesting post! I definitely agree that self-driving car is a technology which can completely change people’s lifestyle. However I feel that it is not easy for that technology to become a norm and accepted by everyone; several remaining problems such as technical issues, people’s negative perception against machines, protests from industries such as taxi or shipping, etc. have to be solve. How do you think Tesla will overcome all the issues and take the initiative in the car industry revolution?

Very interesting read! I remember that I have read an article before, that says some countries are deciding and fixing the cacao trading price, and many local cacao farmers are abandoning their field because farmer’s job is not enough profitable to live. In addition to that there is a fact that it is hard to find newcomers in cacao production, because it takes 4+ years for a cacao tree to bear harvestable cacao beans. I just wonder how Barry Callebaut is managing and thinking about these issues. I agree with Karla’s point that growing cacao in other regions could be a solution for sustainability issues (I wonder why nobody does this. Is there any restriction?)

Very interesting post! The fact that SNCF emits only less than 1% of transport-related CO2 although rail accounts for more than 10% of France’s transport is just fascinating. I also really like its awareness and attitude toward social responsibilities (I remember that I used frequently SNCF when I was living there but I did not know that each ticket indicated CO2 emission). I believe that France’s railway technology is one of the most advanced public transportation technology in the world, so I wonder if there are ways to export them to countries like the US (or are they already trying to do so?).

I totally agree that the nuclear energy is a very important energy source. But I am a little bit skeptical of the data which says that the nuclear energy will grow from 4% of the global total to 6% by 2040, because nuclear technology entails serious safety issues and there is also the fact that some countries are reluctant to use this energy source. For example, in Japan, before the earthquake and nuclear power plant incident in 2011, the government and the electric power companies were very aggressively introducing nuclear power plants, but now there is only one plant operating. Germany also decided to shut down all of the nuclear power plants operating within the country by 2021. I do not think that the US will prohibit the usage of nuclear energy but I thought there are some hurdles that TerraPower has to overcome in order to succeed.

Interesting reading! This post reminded me of some financial analyst reports on Las Vegas Sands I had read, when one of my clients wanted to invest in casino industry. If my memory is correct, LVS is the largest casino resort company and it’s financial base is extremely healthy compare to its competitors such as MGM. You might already know but, as an additional information, I would like to mention the fact that one of their several success derived from its awareness of social responsibilities; Singapore government licensed LVS as the second casino operating in the country, not only because they were the market leader, but also the main building construction cleared the Green Mark Certification criteria [1]. Marina Bay Sands is still the only one large building awarded the Green Mark Platinum in Singapore. [2]

[1] https://www.bca.gov.sg/GreenMark/green_mark_buildings.html
[1] https://www.bca.gov.sg/green_mark/Sustain/BuildingDirectoryDetail.aspx?id=1247

It was interesting to know the fact that while, as I wrote in my post, Toyota is not introducing any EVs, BMW’s products lineup contains both EVs and FCV. Infrastructure is definitely a problem for this technology. You mentioned in the post “BMW decided that it needed to buy time while still working towards minimizing emissions and ultimately having a sustainable product”; I thought that BMW’s approach seems to be more reasonable than Toyota’s approach of ignoring EV technology and only focusing on hydrogen-fueled vehicles. It would be interesting if you could provide some information about what kind of approach BMW is taking to enhance infrastructure development.