Magpie's Profile

I love the Met (and art in general) and have given a lot of thought to these issues before, so thank you for your really well-researched post! I wonder if you saw the Charles James exhibit at the Met a couple of years ago (http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/charles-james-beyond-fashion)? It was the most seamless integration of art and technology that I have seen in a museum. Yet, as Juan pointed out, a visitor cannot appreciate the technology until he/she is in the museum and it has been used specifically for niche exhibits. How do you think the Met can apply similar “modernization” techniques to its permanent collection which attracts more visitors? Does this somehow undermine the art? And if it undermines the art, does it drive away the art lovers – presumably your loyal and high quality customer base?

Thanks for this article, Shane! As a loyal Jawbone customer, it’s interesting to understand the competitive space a bit better. I am curious what you think of competition from mobile, as iPhone’s become increasingly popular for both sleep and step tracking. Do you think wearables will have turned out to be a fad replaced by more seamless substitutes (mobile, Apple Watch) or do you expect that the “jewelry” trend will facilitate integration?

Thanks for highlighting this failure case, which all of us hopefully can learn from! I wonder whether Quirky was doomed to fail regardless of partner or if the choice of GE as partner somehow contributed to the failure. This makes me think of the example Katherine has shared for us in class of bringing a biotech startup into a large pharma company and witnessing the culture of the startup eventually flounder as the corporate takes over. Do you think this happened at Quirky? Aside from the access to capital, could another partner have provided more support/know-how to make Quirky succeed? If so, who do you think that would have been?

Great post, Naomi! I wonder if Whole Foods is looking to leverage digital technology to transform the need for brick & mortar stores themselves. As I hear more and more people using Fresh Direct or similar services that allow you to shop for groceries online, which allows the grocery store to centralize and better manage inventory, I wonder if what Whole Foods is doing to improve its supply chain is enough. Tesco is even creating virtual grocery stores (http://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/lbs-case-study/case-study-tesco-virtually-created-new-market-based-on-country-lifestyle/story/214998.html), so where will Whole Foods stores eventually fit in?

Great article, John Smith! I actually wrote about the same thing but from a different angle, so it was especially interesting to hear your take. I understand that privacy was a big concern when the Magic Band launched, but do you think Disney adequately assuaged fears by creating a menu of opt-in options for parents? For example, when the parent activates the band, he/she has the option to choose what information is shared, including names, ages, etc. Do you think this is enough or is there still a lot of upset/unrest about data safety and privacy?

Secondly, how do you think the proliferation of mobile will affect this program in the future? It seems Disney Shanghai bypassed the magic band altogether and relies solely on the mobile platform. Do you think this passes up an important opportunity given that not all children have mobile phones or do you think this streamlines the digitization and makes integration more likely?

Like many of those above, I am concerned that Uber has resulted in the unintended consequence of creating, rather than reducing, traffic in urban centers. I am curious what you think about how UberPool plays into this effect. On the one hand, it is more sustainable to maximize persons per ride. On the other hand, as the cost of UberPool increasingly competes with the cost of public transportation, UberPool is incentivizing those who would typically use public transportation to use UberPool instead. Since public transportation is the most sustainable form of transportation, do you think Uber should keep/eliminate its UberPool option in cities?

I find Mary’s comment really enlightening. While I certainly appreciate the efforts Mars is taking, such as helping farmers increase productivity from existing cacao trees, it is impossible to deny the very painful truth that eventually cocoa trees will no longer grow in what is currently the “cocoa belt”. Therefore, don’t you think Mars needs to “think outside the box” and either consider gradually moving production to other areas that are expected to benefit from climate change, such as Central America, or find substitutes for their raw inputs?

As climate changes, do you think it’s possible that areas which are not currently conducive to growing coffee will warm enough / become humid enough to fit the coffee-growing conditions? If that’s the case, what do you think Starbucks can do, either from a R&D or organizational perspective, to prepare these communities for the introduction of the new crop?

Thanks for sharing this. Do you think there is room for Monsanto to collaborate rather than compete with start-ups like Indigo or Soylent? Alternatively, do you think there are organizational changes Monsanto can make to further spur innovation from within, perhaps similar to GE Ventures?

Very interesting! I wonder how this compares to other fish industries and whether any of those practices can be applied (i.e. farm-raising, for example)