KMS's Profile

I really enjoyed reading this and frankly would love an everything bagel bag of chips right now. To Farrah’s point above, I think the open innovation strategy for snack flavors serves the dual purpose of a marketing strategy and sourcing ideas. Although there are some limitations as you’ve noted above, the opportunity to source ideas and widen the funnel from the end users of the product seems like a no brainer – why limit idea generation to a few employees when you can leverage so many other voices?

I really enjoyed reading this! While I admire the benefit that Tesla is hoping to provide to the decrease in carbon emissions across the world via this open innovation strategy, it does seem like it is at the expense of their own shareholders. For very new innovations, there are high upfront R&D spends which Tesla and its shareholders is hypothetically footing for the benefit of other companies. Thus I do think they should consider more of a “closed” policy unless they feel like they are equally sharing in the benefits of this open learning.

I really enjoyed this post. One item that your essay touches on that I think is critical is the quality factor of the 3D printing. Nike has focused so much on their R&D and performance that it is absolutely necessary that these 3D printed shoes maintain this same level of quality – which it seems to be doing so far. To answer your question on whether Adidas could turn the tide, I think they could potentially have the opportunity if they could allow for optimal customization at a price and timing that works for the consumer – but sounds like we are still some time away from this type of customization, speed and cost combination.

I really enjoyed reading this! As a loyal Chanel mascara user myself, I’m excited to hear about the innovations that they are pursuing in the space. To your second question about the time to market, I would hope that Chanel is able to leverage learnings from this project to make themselves more efficient on future projects. Frankly, I think this speed is critical for them to continue to innovate and remain competitive and current among so many niche and DTC brands as you note in your essay.

Tina – I really enjoyed reading this! I’m personally fascinated by the current revolution of brick-and-mortar retail and whether or not they can transition to survive in the long run. I agree with ksimmons that if machine learning can help them better serve their customer, that this should be something that the company focuses on. While culture is critical, I also think it is critical for a retailer to entirely focusing on best serving their customer. Separately – pretty interested in the RFID scanning option. In a world where omnichannel is so important, I wonder how to integrate the online and in-store experience for a customer and this seems like an interesting approach.

I really enjoyed reading this essay. As a user of Airbnb, I appreciated learning about how they are making the experience that much more “friction-less” for both the users and the home owners and using machine learning to address these specific pain points. To your question on whether machine learning alone can propel the growth of Airbnb, I think the answer is that other factors are also important. Of course, the more users (and options) on the platform, the more valuable the marketplace. Another item that is very important is the entire user experience, some of which can be drastically improved by machine learning and some components might need a more intentional human interaction. I also wonder whether Airbnb is using visual search at all to scan and validate the quality of a listing – or if this could be a potential future improvement.