Van Tran's Profile

One of Canon’s strength is its high quality optical lenses, so I agree that they should focus on partnership with smartphone companies such as Samsung or Apple. With its long history and reputation, I’m sure customers will be more than excited to buy an iPhone with “Canon camera inside”. Pursuing cheaper and trendier camera for young population might not be consistent with professional and high end image of Canon. Perhaps they can have a sub-brand to try out this strategy? This will certainly require lots of investment of Canon to develop this new capability. Thanks for sharing this!

I think online platform for education can be successful in targeting a clear segment of the market – people who want to advance their career but don’t have too much time and money to spend on full-time program. It can also partner with employers to provide training program for employees. I don’t think online learning is the most effective way to learn (I have to admit that I never finish a Coursera course before), but it offers clear value to people who change jobs, get a promotion or simply learn new things during their spare time.

I loved Pokemon Go but stopped playing after a few months. I wonder how the game is doing now in term of number of active players or any new features to attract new players? I find it hard for a mobile game to sustain its user base over time. Do you know what are the next big things in pipeline of Niantic? Thanks for sharing!!

This is very interesting business model. I wonder whether they will upgrade the platform to be more Shazam-like? Meaning that consumer can use an app to scan a picture or screen and the app will then suggest which brands and products to purchase. This will enable them to tap into impulse purchase occasions and minimize the time lag between seeing a product to actually doing a research on it. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing this Pete! It’s really inspiring to see HBS alumni creating creative and unique business models to fit local markets. Indonesia government still declared that Grab and Gojek are illegal (http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/03/23/app-based-taxi-services-are-illegal-transportation-ministry-insists.html). This represents a significant challenge for local start-ups like Gojek to continue attracting foreign investment. It is also a push for Gojek to expand overseas to diversify risks and boost future growth, which is not an easy task given how customized Gojek is for Indonesia market.

Thanks for sharing this, salmon is my favourite food! Land-based tanks seem to be a good idea to protect the environment but i’m really concern about potential contaminants, chemicals and anti-biotic level in salmon, similar to what happens with farmed fish or shrimp. In another news, genetically engineered salmon that grows twice as fast as normal farmed salmon has been approved by FDA last year http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/business/genetically-engineered-salmon-approved-for-consumption.html?_r=0
Together with land-based tanks, this technology will reduce carbon footprint of salmon farming as well as transportation emissions. However, what will be the impact if these genetically engineered salmons go into oceans and rivers? Will they threaten survival of natural salmons? Will consumers be open to the idea of consuming genetically enhanced animals? It’s still early to answers these questions but the risks are there.

Thanks for sharing this interesting perspective Anca. The amount of water and energy used for lighting, heating, and AC in office and residential buildings is enormous. Just imagine how much electricity we can save in large cities such as New York or London when all buildings are converted to green buildings. I’m curious whether the “green” status of a building creates any competitive advantage in the market? Will it make the building more attractive option for tenants to consider? If the answer is no, perhaps governments need to set-up guidelines similar to BREAM as you mentioned above to enforce real estate developers to make these changes.

Thanks for sharing Ozi! It’s great to know that big players like Olam are stepping up to take more active role in preventing global warming. In places where government enforcement is weak and agricultural practices are outdated like Africa, Olam will play a critical role to drive awareness and changes going forward. My question here is how Olam keeps their suppliers and farmers accountable, what kind of incentives they are providing to farmers and suppliers and how Olam ensures traceability of their products. Accountability will be a key success factor for this program since it will provide the strongest incentive and feedback mechanism for farmers and suppliers to change.

It’s very interesting aspect of financial services that you brought up here Grace. I didn’t think about how global warming affects a seemingly far-fetched industry like insurance but the consequence is real! Coupled with global warming, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to forecast location, magnitude and timing of natural disasters. The initiatives that AIG is promoting are great but it wouldn’t deliver meaningful and timely impact on AIG’s bottomline. I wonder whether AIG will have to change their business model and pricing model for this type of insurance?

It’s great to know that World Bank is changing its approach from being reactive to more integrated solution that addresses root causes of global warming. My question is how World Bank effectively collaborates with private entities and local government to deliver results sustainably. Given that the incentive structure of private sector contract usually provides more powerful motivation to stakeholders to drive changes, World Bank will need to think about methods to get more involvement from various key stakeholders.

Thanks for sharing this interesting article with us!