YS's Profile

Interesting post! What strikes me as the biggest impact of digitization on the comic book industry is the proliferation and increasing budget of blockbuster movies. While superhero movies are no new phenomenon, the pace of new releases in recent years has surged dramatically, and new marvel or DC films regularly pull in over a quarter of a billion dollars in domestic box office sales. That said, these movies also often are costing upwards of $150 – $200m as computer animation budgets soar. I wonder if this high risk – high reward is actually a net positive for the industry. Are these films attracting new comic book buyers or are people purely interested in the fast paced high adrenaline action films? Can you think of any ways in which the digitization of the film industry has helped or hindered the broader comic book industry?

Interesting read. It seems to me that Silver Spring Networks (along with a select few competitors) is in a strong position to be able to offer a full suite of “smart city” energy efficiency and management solutions. This is certainly something that municipalities will need, as they likely do not have the ability to manage different suppliers and likely software systems for each potential upgrade. One challenge that I foresee is communicating the value proposition accordingly and getting municipalities to sign on to a full suite of products. My husband spent the past two years selling distributed generation solar projects to municipalities. In this instance the value proposition was clear, but the sales cycle extremely slow and cumbersome, as there were constantly a large number of stakeholders to be convinced. I’d imagine this to be even more true for more complex offerings like demand-side management products. I’d be interested in knowing how SSN approaches their sales process.

Thanks so much for an interesting post. I think Instacart is such a good example for this TOM challenge and as someone who lives on campus, top of mind as a company that has used digitization as an opportunity. I echo some of the concerns above about Amazon Fresh and Google Express as big threats to Instacart. To parse this out, I would be interested to see results of customer preference studies, if Instacart (or its competitors) have conducted any. The reason for this is that I think a value proposition of Instacart is that it still allows the customer to have the shopping experience; one can follow the Instacart shopper and receive feedback on anything that is out of stock and approve substitutions. The experience of Amazon Fresh, for example, is totally different and customers likely have a preference for one over the other.

Thank you for this post! Very interesting, and I’m glad to know there are companies innovating in this space. I also think there are huge opportunities to make an impact, and I echo your point about those being outside of education. Based on my limited knowledge, my thinking behind why the focus seems to be on education is that it is an area that will help reduce costs down the line. Similar to the comment by “TOM” above, I am curious to see what the potential savings are by reducing incarceration and look forward to seeing the data generated by the new technologies. I think there would be additional economic productivity benefits (beyond the inherent benefits of education) as well. One question I had is around the pros and cons of Alison vs. Edovo and how the California Department of Corrections prioritizes the introduction of these and other new developments.

Thank you for your post – really interesting! A few thoughts as I read:

1) I like the way you posed a question at the end of the introduction to frame your post. In thinking about an answer, a question I had was: when DHL does “intermodal transport solutions” and optimizes routes, how do they come out on cost and speed? At the end of the day, does it matter? In other words, is DHL’s value proposition that it provides the fastest (or cheapest) service?

2) Ann wrote in her post on JetBlue (https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-rctom/submission/jetblue-clearing-the-air/) that JetBlue invests in carbon offsetting programs. I thought it could be something DHL can take on as well.

3) For DHL, the good news is that it seems like the manufacturers of aircrafts are pressured to create products that emit less carbon (https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-rctom/submission/airbus-more-value-less-impact/), and DHL can benefit from their gains.

4) Finally, I’m left wondering: what is DHL doing to mitigate the effects of less predictable weather?

Thank you for this post! I’m impressed with the partnership with the satellite technology company, the SmartBarley program, and the Global Barley Research team; I think investment in new technology is going to be critical for beverage, as well as chocolate and coffee companies. While doing research for this assignment, I came across research done by Suntory, a Japanese beverage company, on hops: http://www.suntory.com/sic/research/t_hop/. Since the research is publicly available, it made me wonder what the role will be of publishing information about new research—and whether companies will choose to collaborate or not? Will it differ by industry (e.g., beer vs. chocolate)? What incentives are there to collaborate?

Thanks for this post – very interesting! It’s helpful and effective to see the many ways in which climate change affects Coca-Cola’s operating model. I’m eager to see the distribution of the company’s efforts across geographies. Are they doing better in some locations over others? Is that intentional? Are they prioritizing in the best way? Based on your post, as well as Sayan’s specifically on India (https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-rctom/submission/coca-cola-in-india/), it seems like Coca-Cola could be focusing on India and other developing countries. Prioritizing countries most prone to the impacts of climate change seems to be a win-win for both the company and for the people who live there.

Really interesting lens on the climate change topic. I also suffer from horrible allergies!

How much does Kaiser’s own efforts to be more sustainable actually mitigate the number of patients coming through the door? I’m afraid that it’s basically too late; it’s inevitable that Kaiser will continue to see an increase in admissions. My view is that it needs to push for legislation that will force the broader market to reduce emission, and therefore decrease the effect on Kaiser’s burden down the line. The database and other studies might serve as evidence for such efforts. I also think Kaiser needs to adjust their resources to be able to serve more patients (and serve more patients efficiently) who will be seeking care.

Interesting post! Agree that the presence and general consensus on climate change will lead to organizations and governments implementing policies to address and mitigate the risks, which NextEra is well poised to take advantage of. NextEra has both clean energy generators, and functions as a distribution utility. I’d be interested in learning a bit more on how the physical manifestations will impact each aspect of NextEra’s business.