TW's Profile

I think that you asked two very valid questions. The technology will always bring new challenges to productivity. There is even an argument that robots will replace humans in the future. However, I think that human beings will always adapt new technology and learn new skills to shift to jobs that can’t be done by robots. It is similar to the idea of continues improvement in the operation. There is always room for technology to disrupt and we will build on the technology improvement to further our history.

Great post. I think that Fintech companies are going to disrupt the traditional banks. The traditional banks are too big to change the current processes. In my point of view, the comparative advantages that banks have are strong relationship with institutional customers. They should focus on developing B2B business model and adapt technology to improvement efficiency. The B2C market is very fragmented and traditional banks are too slow to react to any disruptive technology.

It’s my first time to hear Hello Tractor. It seems that the machine is a good replacement for labor intensive industry and its price is reasonable. What would be some challenges for Hello Tractor enter into every farmer’s home? Will farmers be able to operate the machine easily? Also, will machine increase productivity for farmers?

Very informative article and I agree with you on man points. However, I don’t agree that “Watson’s ability to fulfill these responsibilities is limited”. I think that AI should help physicians to diagnose and evaluate. Physician should then spend more time on decision and execution. An operation doesn’t have standard procedures and it still takes experience for a physician to operate on a human body. I also think that trust and empathy are elements that can not be replaced by AI. Robots will be a good enchantment for physicians to be more efficient, but I won’t trust a robot to operate on surgery…

Great post! I agree with you that digital currency will have a bright future to replace paper cash. The challenge as you mentioned in the post is the trust. Due to lack of regulation, Bitcoin attracts all kinds of fraud, ponzi schemes, and more. The central banks essentially need to work with start-ups to establish certain rules to develop the new technology and market.

It is a very interesting topic because many Chinese real estate developers tried to design sustainable commercial and residential buildings. The challenge is the relatively higher costs involved in an energy-efficient building. Arguably, the total savings is far beyond cost of building these buildings. But both residents and developers would simply ignore the long-term savings and focus on short-term costs. Is there a way to convince developers to build more energy and water efficient buildings?

I love the idea of driving an electric car, but we might be cautious of where the electricity comes from. If we use hundreds of smokestacks at power plants that supply electricity to charge electric cars, then many of these smokestacks are the single-largest source of greenhouse gas pollution in the U.S. The source would grow as electric cars demand more and more electricity generated by coal power plants. Therefore, Tesla has the responsibility to align sustainability goals with its downstream suppliers. Alternatively, Tesla could use clean energy to charge cars and generate electricity.

I think that it is an interesting perspective to drive sustainability from manufacturing process in the auto industry. Many auto companies are investing in electronic vehicle and I am not sure if VW is working towards the same goal. Even if auto company, like VW, moves to build electronic cars, would battery used in the electronic cars produce similar amount of climate damages?

Great post! As an intensive water consumer, Coke is facing many constrains from water scarcity. The example of plant closure in India is a great example that sustainability will have a server impact on a company’s financial results. I think that one thing that Coke should do is to drive sustainability in the direction of upstream and downstream – align sustainability goal with suppliers and increase consumer awareness. As a global leader, Coke needs to influence more firms and people to understand the importance of sustainability and fulfill its social responsibility.

I would echo you that Coke has established a robust water stewardship program to reduce overall water consumption in the plants. My company provides water reduction service and technology to Coke and Coke has a very consistent strategy globally. Even in developing countries, Coke would still spend significant money to reduce water consumption. As an industry leader, I would challenge Coke to further lead industry and consumer behavior changes. For example, Coke introduced new ways to turn empty bottles into useful objects (http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/coca-cola-invents-16-crazy-caps-turn-empty-bottles-useful-objects-158136). I feel strongly that Coke can do some right marketing campaigns to increase consumer awareness in the sustainability area.