Leigh McAdams's Profile

Great article Melissa! I agree that the traditionally small local suppliers to Whole Foods have a right to be nervous about this acquisition. However, giving Amazon the benefit of the doubt for the moment and proceeding as if they truly acquired Whole Foods out of admiration of their successful and unusual model, I think the “locavore” community can be reassured. Amazon has shown consumers, first through Amazon Prime and more recently through their methodical build out of their own proprietary shipping system, that they know how to do logistics better than any other player in the marketplace. I think it is quite likely that Amazon grasps that much of Whole Foods’ appeal to millenials is precisely its local, authentic, almost “small-business” culture, and will work to protect that aspect of the business. I expect Amazon to realize the value of their Whole Foods acquisiiton, and hopefully pass savings on to the customer, purely through optimizing and refining the supply chain amongst the current Whole Foods suppliers.

Great article HJ. I agree that Cardinal seems to be innovating in the right direction, asking the tough questions and dedicating the time and resources toward solutions. I wonder though, how possible it is to fully streamline supply chain purchasing practices across such an incredibly fragmented industry? In the US, the 3 largest hospital chains still make up less than 5% of the total industry. The industry is trending toward consolidation, specifically to leverage the negotation power that comes from consolidating purchasing and reimbursement, but there is still has a long way to go. Cardinal’s approach to smoothing the supply chain is a necessary next step, but how do we also begin to solve for the complexity of so many fragmented delivery points and needs among the end users, the hospitals? Also, as hospitals budgets continue to get squeezed by rising costs and falling governmental reimbursement, how can we incentivize adoption of Cardinal’s supply chain innovation?

Great article! Having worked in the payor-provider space, a merger between CVS and Aetna makes me wonder about the ripple effect not only to patients, but to providers and to other payors. It would seem with CVS being such a major PBM, they’d be in a position to give Aetna (and therefore themselves) preferred or exclusive access to prescription drugs, and to disadvantageously price toward other insurers. If price savings were passed down to customers/patients, would there be a massive influx of customers for Aetna coverage, and an exodus from other payors? Would this then cause hospitals and other providers to cut Aetna a better deal for in-network access to serve their patient pool? While I have some concerns around the potential anti-trust implications of the Aetna-CVS deal, I am especially convinced that this is one arena in which Amazon is starting off way behind the incumbent heavyweight player.

Great article Tracy, thanks for sharing! It’s encouraging to see an industry leader like Pfizer adapting proactively both for its own good and to proliferate access to healthcare/pharmaceuticals. One issue that came immediately to the front of my mind while reading your article was how Pfizer would leverage its new and improved supply chain in different geographies. I’m thinking particularly of emerging markets- the areas that often need access to life saving drugs the most, and have the least capital and and ability to store said drugs. If Pfizer invests heavily in digitizing its supply chain, will it focus only on how to get the best return on that investment, ie channeling drugs more efficiently to the first world? Or will they look for synergies in their newly-efficient supply chain that allow them to use first world markets to subsidize their ability to better provide drugs to emerging markets as well?

Very well written article, thank you for sharing! I agree completely with your stance that REMAX needs to address the threat of Zillow. Before Zillow, a real estate agent (and therefor agency)’s main value add was in sourcing potential listings for buyers, and sourcing potential buyers for sellers. Now that Zillow has made so much data transparent to both buyers and sellers, it’s easy to feel that real estate agents just schedule showings and hand the keys back and forth, and one can (and should) go it alone. But I wonder how much value home buyers and sellers still find in the ease of mind that comes from having a professional consultant, feeling guided through the process, the paperwork, and especially the negotiation. If a buyer engages a realtor who is able to broker a sale below the Zillow “Zestimate” for the property, I would expect the buyer would be very glad to have that realtor. Similarly, I think a good realtor can daylight pricing nuances that Zillow cannot capture-for example a property next to a soon-to-be construction zone could definitely be bought for a discount to its Zillow price, if a saavy realtor is on top of such details. If I were REMAX I would abandon the “search” aspect of home buying and selling to Zillow, and focus on the services on which realtors can continue to outperform algorithms.

Fantastic article, thanks for sharing!
You make a very persuasive argument from Wells Fargo’s perspective regarding the best way to enter the digital mortgage game and compete with Rocket and Sofi. As I read this however, I could not help questioning whether digital mortgages are even a good idea, and does Wells, as a huge financial institution, hold some moral resonsibility here. My concerns are first, that through the absence of face to face interaction, hands on document vetting, and relationship building that in-person mortgage application requires, Wells and others might be lowering their standards for who qualifies for a mortgage. Second, I fear that the more “quick and easy” Wells and others make this process, the more casually Americans will approach what should be a carefully thought out financial decision, leading to unnecessary credit score dings for those who are denied, and worse- a loan they are not prepared to service for those that are approved.
These issues taken together, I cannot help but be concerned that we are inviting a similar economic crisis as the 2008 great recession which was of course driven by inappropriately issued home mortgages. I would charge Wells to only enter this space if they could control against these concerns to the same degree that they are currently able to.