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It’s amazing to realize that M-Pesa has really led the industry globally in the field of mobile banking. This is an example of innovation that instead of being created in the west/developing world and trickling up, was actually created on the ground in a developing country and spread to more developed markets over time. When I worked at the World Bank in 2007 we reviewed the dramatic growth of M-Pesa and the market for global remittances (people sending money back to their family via mobile phones). The efficacy and traceability of mobile banking for individuals was revolutionary. People could send money back to their family directly (reminds me of our ITC case) and remove the risk of middle men skimming a profit or withholding the money from their loved ones. A risk that was discussed was the potential for mobile banking to support money laundering and corruption networks given the ease of transferring money. I would assume M-Pesa as its volume of usage has increased has put in controls to prevent their system from being utilized for black market activities but I suspect enforcement would be problematic. As M-Pesa looks to scale this could be a challenge that potential backers/funders would bring up. They would want to have a program in place to reduce this risk.

When it comes to utilizing technology like solar power in developing countries, maintenance and repair services can become a major challenge which limits perpetual use over time. In the article’s discussion of the business model for off grid energy it would have been helpful to understand how the company is considering this and what steps they are taking to ensure that the business is sustainable. Also, given the equipment necessary for utilizing the solar, how will the company source and supply these parts to such remote villages. If the user stops paying will it deploy agents to collect the equipment that is in the customer’s house? Working at such a micro level could create challenges to achieving the scale of over a million users the blog sites and lead to higher losses than anticipated.

Jorge, certainly Avery Denision is well positioned to digitize its labels. Customers are already looking at labels for size, care/wash instructions, and to see where the product is made. I wonder if these consumer use cases could create interesting partnerships for AD as opposed to simply providing a digital closet. The digital closet and styling information seems to be a ” nice to have” which requires the consumer to spend more effort rather than a “must have”. One application I immediately thought of was the washing and care instructions on the label itself. It is so easy to make a mistake when washing clothes and shrink or damage the clothing you bought. Imagine if your washing machine was “smart” and could “read” the digital label as you threw a load of laundry into the machine. The machine could be equipped with a slot where you feed the clothes in and it reads and sorts the clothing according to what kind of wash it optimal for its care. Suddenly white and colors sort themselves, oxy clean is automatically added to brights after so many washes, and the dryer knows not to turn on when you new black leggings have mistakenly been added. This is a convenience and solution that I would think consumers could get really excited about! Overall, my critique is that AD should consider use cases that help consumers solve common problems. Can you imagine the various equipment providers and CPG companies competing to be the firsts ones to have this partnership with their washing machines or detergent! It could be very profitable for AD!

Laure – Rainforest’s approach to crowdsource QA makes a lot of sense. I’m surprised this hasn’t been done earlier and I wonder who the other competitors are in this space. I would assume that testers would be filtered by language and skill background to ensure the testers put the website through its paces and the customer can provide feedback through reviews. However, I wonder if the business model that Rainforest has is sustainable? There are now so many templates available to create websites like wix.com and part of the allure is that it looks professional, is very easy to set up and virtually bug free, a website in a box. Given the rise of chatbots and machine learning it seems as though human based testing could very rapidly become obsolete. Perhaps Rainforest needs to actually to start having their expert users train algorithms to be able to complete this QA almost like automatic spell check. This would be a way for a user/customer to run a QA test real time and then check the results themselves.

Maria – great article. Burberry certainly is leading when it comes to reinvigorating an iconic brand and expanding beyond the boundaries of what we defined as their scope (the trench) to a wider more digital range. One thought that comes to mind is the risk this transparency could create for copy cats. As the company builds such a robust digital experience, could this content be easily poached by others in the fashion space. What is the risk of fake companies reverse engineering clothing to create products that are indistinguishable. In addition, what about hackers who could use the digital store as a portal to “break into” the burberry back end and steal customer information? Clearly in addition to creating a strong digital presence Burberry will also need to safeguard this data and content to prevent issues that undermine the trust of its customers and consumers.

While its important that Indian Railways are looking at ways to improve sustainability through energy and water efficiency I find it comical that they have not addressed one of their most direct impacts – that of human waste. Trains bathrooms do not have tanks or ways of storing and then correctly disposing of waste. It is simply an open hole where waste goes directly onto the tracks. Given the millions of people who use the train daily across India this has a major impact on the environment and on health.

This impact is directly within their control and would certainly improve customer experience. Whats stopping them from tackling this first?

Diving Cairns would be accredited by PADI an international professional organization for diving which ensures that dive shops and instructors are operating as per safety and conservation standards. This community is very active and has been in existence for 50 years. A logical next step could have been to leverage PADI to elevate awareness of the impact of climate change on Australia. In addition to instructors, PADI also certified thousands of divers around the world. This is another community that could be activated to lobby for change. Furthermore, the travel industry more broadly could be a group that Diving Cairns could work with to push for necessary legislation changes in Australia. By exploring these options the post could have strengthened its assessment of possible solutions or actions.

Given the size of the business I would argue that Kohls and Whole Foods are not an accurate comparison. In fact Walmart is the largest purchaser of solar energy and a top partner of the EPA programs on renewable energy.
See below links:

“Walmart once again took the top spot among America’s businesses in the electric generation capacity of its solar investments and number of solar projects. The big box retailer, based in Bentonville, Ark., boasts a robust 142 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity and has completed 348 installations”.

Source: http://www.seia.org/research-resources/solar-means-business-2015-top-us-corporate-solar-users
Source: http://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2012/01/31/walmart-no-2-on-epas-top-20-retail-list-of-green-power-purchases-in-two-biggest-states

Interestingly Walmart has led perhaps the most on its waste reduction efforts and has diverted 82% of its waste from landfills.
They have donated huge amounts of food that would have been thrown away to Feeding America and worked with the industry to drive innovation.

“Together with Sodexho and Feeding America, Walmart has been working with ReFED, a collaboration of more than 30 business, nonprofit and government leaders, that are committed to cutting U.S. food waste by as much as half by 2030.”

Source: http://www.greenretaildecisions.com/news/2016/03/23/walmart-expands-waste-reduction-program

With its leadership, scale, and experience implementing sustainability initiatives throughout its global operations I agree Walmart can do more. The past several years have been a lull in announcing new goals. This past weekend however, Walmart recently announced updated goals for sustainability.

“Specifically, the world’s largest retailer is committing to, by 2025:
– achieve zero waste to landfill in Canada, Japan, U.K and the U.S.
– be powered by 50 percent renewable energy sources under a plan designed to achieve science-based targets
– double sales of locally grown produce
– expand sustainable sourcing to cover 20 key commodities, including bananas, grapes, coffee and tea
– use 100 percent recyclable packaging for all private-label brands”
Source: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/inside-walmarts-2025-sustainability-goals

These goals are more specific and measurable than their original aspirational goals in 2005. The company from its first 10 years of sustainability programs now is more focused on where the major impact are in its supply chains and where it is positioned to move the needle.
One could argue that they are too narrow, however I hope this focus causes them to make significant and deep changes especially in the product categories they mentioned. In the past their approach to rate all products it sold caused a massive scientific exercise which resulted in disappointing end results in terms of on shelf customer communication (sustainability index)

We should continue to expect high standards from this company even as their leadership team changes and it competes to catch up online.
Millennials care more than previous generations about these standards and thus to stay relevant Walmart must continue to evolve and lead in this arena.

Given the size of the business I would argue that Kohls and Whole Foods are not an accurate comparison. In fact Walmart is the largest purchaser of solar energy and a top partner of the EPA programs on renewable energy.
See below links:

“Walmart once again took the top spot among America’s businesses in the electric generation capacity of its solar investments and number of solar projects. The big box retailer, based in Bentonville, Ark., boasts a robust 142 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity and has completed 348 installations”.

Source: http://www.seia.org/research-resources/solar-means-business-2015-top-us-corporate-solar-users
Source: http://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2012/01/31/walmart-no-2-on-epas-top-20-retail-list-of-green-power-purchases-in-two-biggest-states

With its leadership, scale, and experience implementing sustainability initiatives throughout its global operations I agree Walmart can do more. The past several years have been a lull in announcing new goals. This past weekend however, Walmart recently announced updated goals for sustainability.

“Specifically, the world’s largest retailer is committing to, by 2025:
– achieve zero waste to landfill in Canada, Japan, U.K and the U.S.
– be powered by 50 percent renewable energy sources under a plan designed to achieve science-based targets
– double sales of locally grown produce
– expand sustainable sourcing to cover 20 key commodities, including bananas, grapes, coffee and tea
– use 100 percent recyclable packaging for all private-label brands”
Source: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/inside-walmarts-2025-sustainability-goals

These goals are more specific and measurable than their original aspirational goals in 2005. The company from its first 10 years of sustainability programs now is more focused on where the major impact are in its supply chains and where it is positioned to move the needle.
One could argue that they are too narrow, however I hope this focus causes them to make significant and deep changes especially in the product categories they mentioned. In the past their approach to rate all products it sold caused a massive scientific exercise which resulted in disappointing end results in terms of on shelf customer communication (sustainability index)

We should continue to expect high standards from this company even as their leadership team changes and it competes to catch up online.
Millennials care more than previous generations about these standards and thus to stay relevant Walmart must continue to evolve and lead in this arena.

Given its leadership, scale, and experience implementing sustainability initiatives throughout its global operations Walmart can do more and has recently announced updated goals for sustainability.

“Specifically, the world’s largest retailer is committing to, by 2025:
– achieve zero waste to landfill in Canada, Japan, U.K and the U.S.
– be powered by 50 percent renewable energy sources under a plan designed to achieve science-based targets
– double sales of locally grown produce
– expand sustainable sourcing to cover 20 key commodities, including bananas, grapes, coffee and tea
– use 100 percent recyclable packaging for all private-label brands”
Source: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/inside-walmarts-2025-sustainability-goals

These goals are more specific and measurable than their original aspirational goals in 2005. The company from its first 10 years of sustainability programs now is more focused on where the major impact are in its supply chains and where it is positioned to move the needle. Initially the company took this high level approach to motivate the entire organization to ask what they could each do to drive improvement, efficiency and model 21st leadership. This approach which launched 14 sustainable value networks with internal and external NGOs was effective and led to significant improvement in internal efficiencies and new innovations. They essentially invited their biggest critics to the table to ask for help.

Given the impacts on agriculture Walmart changed it’s produce and agriculture sourcing strategies to remove intermediaries and go direct to build partnerships with farmers in major growing regions around the world. This was a critical step to ensuring supply and also building multi-year buying commitments that allowed farmers to invest in improvements on the ground. Furthermore, they have committed to supporting the development and diversification of local farming to reduce their risk and improve freshness.

We should continue to expect high standards from this company even as their leadership team changes and it competes to catch up online.
Millennials care more than previous generations about these standards and thus to stay relevant Walmart must continue to evolve and lead in this arena.

Additional resources:
Local Produce Commitment: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-walmart-idUSTRE69C09V20101014
Original Sustainability Value Networks to drive change across organization – https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_greening_of_wal_mart