ThinkVertical's Profile

In response to the article and others comments, I think that Cadbury should continue to be focused on product quality, not just cost. Anyone can develop low cost candy but not just anyone can develop a brand like Cadbury. Customers in general are moving towards higher quality goods in the food industry as we’ve seen with the “all natural”, non-GMO, and organic movements.

As for the ways to mitigate risk of high tariffs, I’d recommend building out another factory outside Britain. Many companies, especially those as large as Cadbury, have multiple factories in various locations to mitigate various risks of production. These would allow as you mentioned, the ability for them to scale up as needed. Otherwise they’ll be stuck in a difficult spot of in fact a “hard Brexit” does occur and have to eat the cost of high tariffs until they can build out another solution. You don’t want to be stuck and make rash decision that could negatively affect the company for years to come.

As I contemplated the effects of NAFTA on not only auto-make but also many other companies, I still wonder if this will truly lead to the outcomes we are searching for. Protecting American jobs in this respect and trying to bring back specific manufacturing jobs seems to be a futile effort considering how pervasive automation technology is as others have mentioned.

Additionally, massive tariffs seem to only erode benefit for all parties involved. As we implement high tariffs, other countries are likely to respond (read retaliate) in a similar fashion. So we bring manufacturing back with a low increase in total jobs, pay more for other goods, and possibly save some money on the goods produced here, all to “protect” ourselves.

As far as online education goes, I think HBX was one of the most engaging, intuitive, and positive class experiences. That being said I still did not complete the class I enrolled in because of lack of accountability and lack of true interaction with a professor and/or students. We as humans will likely always require a significant element of, well, human interaction because that’s part of what makes us so.

As you state, the blended learning model is the way to go and I can’t wait for our public education system to get on board. I think one of the biggest reasons people are afraid of this from the elementary and secondary schools is because they’re worried about how they are going to keep students occupied for hours a day if they’ve already sat through the pre-recorded lectures beforehand. Unfortunately they might have to actually engage students and change how they are teaching in such a significant way. We as humans are also a bit afraid of change. Ultimately I think we’ll find an amazing balance that will increase the prevalence of good access to education and increase the quality of current education. Blended learning all the way!

In a digital world, it’s crazy to think that even the way we work out which is a highly physical activity will be significantly affected by this. But this play by Flywheel in an interesting response honestly. Not sure it’s quite in their wheelhouse (pun intended) to expand their business model to include this individual home model already.

I’m thinking they should focus on their current business model and expand their geographical footprint before taking on peloton just yet especially as people are spending more money/time on “experiences” and that includes going to fitness classes. Most of the fun is in experiencing it with others. The Peloton (individual rider market) is likely a much smaller market. That being said, I’m impressed by their willingness to expand and make sure they aren’t being disrupted by the likes of Peloton. Never know where things will go as AR/VR technology expands. Maybe we’ll all just work out from home but with each other through our VR system.

As you know, I love olive oil a lot, so I was definitely happy to see your article! Your use of exhibits and figures was extremely beneficial. I really liked the implementation of the drip irrigation. I would be interested to understand how much water an improvement like this ended up saving. I’d imagine it’s a significant amount because it looks like it would significantly decrease the amount of evaporation, and it would also decrease the total amount of water used because of decreasing runoff and over watering with regular irrigation.

The other part I’m interested to see the end or future results is the digital analysis of each tree. I’d agree that ultimately this is what will lead to the most efficient outcomes. That is, as long as we can get accurate data.

Figure B is a fascinating representation of what the true impact is that electric vehicles have on the environment. As you outline many people think that electric is better across the board, but the amount of carbon it takes to produce the vehicles and then the electricity that those vehicles actually use is not all that “clean” in the end. I had heard about the energy it takes to create the cars and batteries in the first but hadn’t thought about how electricity is produced differently in every region.

Seems like there might be bigger things to focus as far as renewable energy goes in order to decrease carbon output (e.g. the coal power plants in the Midwest).