WhitneyQ's Profile

Great article MJ! Digital disruption is a challenge that all traditional media companies are facing right now. On the supply chain structure, I think the changes that NYT needs to make are even more drastic than adding a few more people to the business/marketing team and bringing those functions closer to the creative side. Instead, I would take a page out of Bloomberg’s Media group that underwent a complete org overhaul in August to best service its clients in this new digital age [1]. NYT, however, as you mentioned probably can’t take it as far as Bloomberg in shifting to a complete focus on client demands and customer interests because of its customer promise of remaining an objective content creator/news source. I agree this will be a very difficult tightrope to walk for NYT. As its competitors are creating custom content for its sponsors or stories geared directly towards readers’ interests, how can NYT keep up? Unless it changes its customer promise, I don’t think it can.

[1] http://www.adweek.com/digital/bloomberg-is-tapping-its-deep-resources-to-provide-consulting-services-for-businesses/#/

This is a very interesting application of how digital initiatives can improve a very tangible issue that the people of Los Angeles face daily. I would have never of thought of this application, even as a devoted Waze user!

I agree with Cindy and Jeff that the digital initiatives are only a way to diffuse the issue and aren’t a long-term solution to this problem. A re-work of Los Angeles’ infrastructure is the only real fix here, one that Los Angeles residents have been demanding for a while, and is likely not coming any time soon. I wonder though if the city can use the data it receives from the digital partnerships to identify and make infrastructure improvements in the most heavily congested areas of the city. I would think that targeted improvements in critical areas could go a long way to fighting the Los Angeles traffic monster.

Great post CN! First off, I never knew that the most popular Mexican beers in the U.S. are all sold by Constellation – what a monopoly!

I really think your proposed action plan / additional considerations are spot on. In the short-term, I would take it a step further and have Constellation join forces with all importers / companies that will be impacted by NAFTA – the more bargaining power the better! Moving operations to the U.S. in the long-term was my immediate thought while reading this article too. Constellation could brand the new U.S.-made beers similar to Apple’s “designed by apple in California assembled in China”, a message that hopefully keeps some of that Mexican authenticity. I would believe the CEO, however, when he says that Constellation is not considering moving its operations to the U.S. at this time. The other actions plans that you highlight are much more likely in my opinion. Moving operations to the U.S. should be a last resort if all else fails.

I think the impact of autonomous cars is a huge consideration here, and should probably get more weight than we are giving it. Optimists are predicting that every new car will have autonomous capabilities in the next 5-10 years [1]. That is something that Ford should absolutely be thinking about today. While this adds a large new step to the supply chain with the software component likely being implemented initially in San Francisco, I agree with “D”, and wonder how much autonomous capabilities will impact the current supply chain for the car itself. Even though there will be more focus on software and experience the physical car body still needs to be created. Autonomous cars might not have that much of an impact on Ford’s supply chain and how it thinks about isolationist policies, but it absolutely should be top of mind for any decision being made.
[1] https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/15/the-end-of-the-automotive-supply-chain/

To pause on a nit – I can’t believe that Ford is openly admitting to increasing its utilization of alternative transportation to decrease GHG. Wow! Initially that struck me as a cigarette CEO who does not smoke – a bit hypocritical. On further thought, however, I am really impressed with Ford for openly stating that they look to use alternative transportation in their own supply chain. They are seeing the bigger picture!
After reading this article, I was curious how Ford specifically stacks up against its competitors in its sustainability efforts. According to the annual “Greenest Cars” list compiled by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, which is summarized by the Forbes article below, Ford’s Focus Electric squeaks into the top 10 at #10. Toyota has three cars in the top 10, and surprisingly there is no Tesla!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2017/02/14/the-greenest-cars-for-2017/#4b271ed1ecf1

I find this very interesting in that Mars is not only looking to make its supply chain more sustainable and eco-friendly, but also that it is taking steps today to protect its supply chain against climate change and its possible detrimental impact. Global warming will without a doubt be an issue for a lot of companies; Mars is a great example of a clear cause and effect relationship of raising temperatures on a company’s supply-chain. I wonder if something else can be done in addition to empowering and educating farmers. I really like Shalei’s suggestion above of considering a cocoa substitute. Alternatively, could the company make its chocolate-production process more efficient so that they require less cocoa? Is there anything else that could be done to make the farmers more efficient? Obviously, these are work-arounds to the impact of climate change instead of solutions to the issue. It is great to see Mars trying to tackle this complicated monster of an issue from multiple angles!