Michael Jordan's Profile

I find the first question posed by Thomas C. Cranberry IV particularly difficult to answer. Yes, I agree that large companies are responsible for ensuring that their suppliers are in line with sustainability best practices, however – where do this obligation start and stop? To ZW’s point, it would be interesting to understand why is water consumption Colgate’s focus and whether it is the right “metric” to measure sustainability – not only of its own performance, but also of its suppliers. At a time when in most, if not all, industries, sustainability is becoming an increasingly hot topic, I wonder how can companies like Colgate navigate this territory and not getting trapped by making claims that they may not be able to fully control. It is certainly a very interesting topic and one that will for sure impact multiple of our future jobs.

Great overview of the challenges retailers, and in particular department stores are facing. I do agree with the need for the “click and mortar” that Jason Bourne points out, however as Messi rightly said, e-commerce is a very challenging space, and even Amazon is still loosing money.

One point I’d like to touch is the real estate value and what should Macy do with it. In particular I’m thinking of one of the trends in the market – pop up stores. At a time when so many players are trying to strike the perfect balance between online and physical stores, with retailers like Bonobos and Warby Parker moving to physical locations, and start-ups focused on pop-stores emerging, could Macy use its retail expertise and prime locations to see new brands as friends and not foes?

Great discussion. I struggle with evaluating the dynamics of the Hollywood – China relationship. Does Hollywood need China purely has a consumer market to their global product? Is Hollywood, or in this case, WB adjusting to local content to keep access to this market? Or could they be afraid that if they don’t do it, then someone else will, and Hollywood will have lost the train to the next “Bollywood”? Also, by investing locally, can they really trust the Chinese government to not change the rules of the game again half way through? Very curious to see how this industry will evolve.

Similar to Michelle, I have travelled around Cuba and stayed at the omni-present casa particulares. However, my experience was incredibly positive. I found the people very authentic and open. I don’t think Airbnb will revolutionize the accommodation industry in Cuba – in fact, if anything, Cuba has a super sophisticated “Airbnb network” through its casas particulares. Although in principle I believe Airbnb can facilitate contact between Americans and Cubans, I wonder how much of this contact could already exist naturally through the casas particulares. In addition, the internet connection is a really issue for a couple of key reasons. As already mentioned in the text and other comments, connection is limited and cash transactions are the main payment method. Secondly, when you are in Cuba, you can’t even access airbnb website to book more houses. Finally, most home owners have “real” tourists knocking on their door on a daily basis or other casas particulares sending them tourists through phone call reservations. This means that as a user, trusting the airbnb availability – or even more challenging – getting quick responses from home owners, can be extremely tricky.

That said, casas particulares and Airbnb have too much in common not to leverage each other. The cuban people is extremely savvy and hospitable, I am sure they will find a way to work together with Airbnb and create a value proposition that helps tourists, airbnb, and hopefully, most of all, the cuban people.

Very interesting. I wonder how much of the technology and innovation – in process, location, type of grape, will eventually dictate a change in the brand value of certain wines. To Cindy’s point – will people still want a merlot if it tastes nothing as a merlot? On the other hand, how many “day-to-day” consumers know exactly how a merlot should taste like? As Noemie pointed out, I believe consumers will adjust their tastes, mind and expectations to both accept the taste evolution of “old wines” and more openly embrace technology and climate change “enabled” new wines. The question for me remains – how and when should wine producers, such as Nederburg, start to evolve with the climate and consumer changes?

Very interesting read. I always find the comparison between Uniqlo and Zara extremely valid from a supply chain point of view. However, from a product and customer insights perspectives, I struggle to position them. Zara is known for copying runway designs, whereas Uniqlo takes a strong stand at classic and high quality, high value products. How these two companies will use digital supply chains to fulfil their value propositions, not only from a design to shelf speed perspective, but also making sure it is exactly what their customers want, is for me the exciting question that lies ahead.