TN's Profile

Great post! The retail price of $1,995 seem like this business would have a high barrier to enter for customers and would have limited (exclusive) type of customers – only those who could afford a ~$2,000 bike. I wonder how Peloton marketed its products to its potential customers. Also, as you mentioned in your blog post, their use of financing seem odd so far and I wonder if their business model would really disrupt competitors like SoulCycle and if it would be a sustainable business in the long term.

Interesting post! M-Pesa’s business is extremely fascinating. The impact they had on rural Kenyan households is amazing and quite inspirational for many tech companies to start/expand businesses in underdeveloped areas. Although I do agree with the statement that M-Pesa was successful not only because of technology but also because of the country’s regulatory environment, I think it will also be critical for M-Pesa to create products and services that will differentiate itself in such an environment to continue to be sustainable.

So nice to see this blog post since this RFID technology adopted by Blue C Sushi is extremely common in Japan. Sushi restaurants that adopt this is called “Kaitenzushi” – where you could eat sushi in the most efficient manner (quick and fresh). However, I do wonder how long it would take these sushi restaurants to payback its investments, considering its low margins.

Great post! When GoPro was introduced, it disrupted the industry and many digital camera companies (Panasonic, Nikon, Sony, etc.) suffered market share losses. GoPro changed the way customers use cameras but now it faces a new competition with mobile phone cameras (Apple iPhones in particular, as you mentioned). It will be interesting how GoPro changes its product line and customer offerings in the future to continue to stay ahead in the industry.

Interesting post PatL! I never knew about UberMOTO until I read your article – it’s really interesting that there is a huge potential in emerging markets. Very interesting how Uber could expand its business globally by using its existing mobile application infrastructure and cutting edge GPS technology.. but through different methods (ie. Cars, motorcycles, etc). I do wonder though, like many of the comments above, how Uber would tackle safety concerns.

Interesting post. As a person who cannot live without coffee, I find that Starbucks is not taking this problem seriously. Like you mentioned in your blog, there is a lot more Starbucks could do to face this problem. I think your proposal #3 Moving up the supply chain is the most critical action for Starbucks to take immediately. Instead of relying on farmers to make sustainable changes, why can’t Starbucks partner with them? Starbucks has the potential to help and change the coffee farming industry with their scale – yet they are not.

Interesting post! Like many of the comments above, I was not aware of the sustainability initiatives of Nike. My only wonder is if Nike is really committed to this sustainability projects – are they conducting Flyknit and Nike Grind just for CSR purposes? If Nike was truly committed to these initiatives, they would initiate aggressive marketing campaigns (like they usually do). With their (almost) lack of promoting these projects, it almost seems as if there is a limit in sustainably manufacturing an innovative product. I wonder if there is a level of trade offs with these products – whether it be for professional sports teams or for the mass consumers.

Shreya, thank you for choosing this topic! An amazing read. I never noticed the environmental consequences feminine products have on our environment as well as of Natracare. When 50% of the population have to use feminine products on a monthly basis, its almost crazy to think that we have not discussed feminine products in the category for climate change initiatives.
I completely agree that we need to open the conversation about this topic since there is a strong stigma to it. Like the many comments written above, I also think that Natracare should re-establish their marketing campaign and first raise awareness about how wasteful we are with feminine products.

Interesting post! I was surprised Levis are taking initiatives for climate change. I was fascinated with response #3 about using less water in their manufacturing process. But as a consumer who wears jeans on a regular basis, I’m not sure if using water is actually better or not – does the quality of jeans go bad? What happens to the jeans if you don’t use the usual amount of water? What are these finishing techniques (alternative to water) in the manufacturing process that would enable Levis to maintain their quality? I wonder if it is at all possible for Levis to completely change their manufacturing process to the point where they only manufacture jeans using this new technique.

Interesting post Hartley. I never knew about Nestle’s climate change efforts in regards to refrigerators. I wonder how much Nestle has control over the type of refrigerators their third party wholesalers and retailers would use. Is Nestle creating incentives in the process chain to make sure partners are conducting these initiatives.
That being said I also became concerned that Nestle, despite being a leading international food and beverages company, is not at its forefront in climate change actions. Nestle has the potential to set a criteria in the industry as a leading international company – I hope they are at least in the process of planning or conducting actions towards the many environmental issues we have in the world today.