Description: Walmart (WMT) is exiting the e-cigarette category completely as a rash of mysterious deaths linked to vaping draws intense scrutiny. Source: Finance.Yahoo.com – video report Date: Sep 20, 2019 Link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walmart-to-exit-e-cigarette-category-as-pressure-mounts-on-vaping-170930026.html Questions for discussion: What are the financial implications for Walmart’s decision? Do you think management is trying to get ahead of a government… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Strategy
The new technology that could turn small businesses into international companies
Description: Advancements in machine translation technology are helping consumers, gamers and small businesses Source: MarketWatch.com Date: Sep 12, 2019 Link: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/translation-technology-promises-to-break-down-the-language-barriers-of-international-commerce-2019-09-12?mod=mw_theo_homepage Questions for discussion: Why is this technology so significant for businesses all around the world? What are the concerns management should be wary of?
US Consumers Tolerate Ads if They’re Expecting Them or They’re Incentivized
Description: US digital buyers that were surveyed considered static banner ads (16%), sponsored posts in social media feeds (14%) and sponsored search results (12%) to be the most useful digital ad formats. Overall, however, almost 58% of digital buyers said they didn’t think any digital ads were useful to them. Source: eMarketer.com Date: Sep 11,… Read more »
Can Sotheby’s Find Sales Success by Going Private?
Description: How do you turn an ancient, labor-intensive prestige brand into a money machine? That’s the challenge facing French telecommunications mogul Patrick Drahi, who on Thursday won approval from shareholders of Sotheby’s to take the 275-year-old auction house private in a transaction worth $3.7 billion. Source: Fortune.com Date: Sep 06, 2019 Link: https://fortune.com/2019/09/06/sothebys-sale-drahi/ Questions for… Read more »
Nordstrom Tests Accepting Online Returns Bought From Rivals
Description: Nordstrom Inc. is trying an unusual approach to get busy New York City shoppers in its doors: Letting them return merchandise they bought online—from other retailers. Source: Fortune.com Date: Sep 06, 2019 Link: https://fortune.com/2019/09/06/nordstrom-tests-accepting-online-returns-from-rivals-such-as-macys/ Questions for discussion: Is this a good idea? What is the benefit to customers and to Nordstrom? Would an “any-brand”… Read more »
The Renaissance of Somewhat Controversial Public Transit Ads
Description: eMarketer principal analysts Nicole Perrin and Andrew Lipsman discuss the wave of contentious subway ads: What’s allowed? What isn’t? Why have startups become obsessed with marketing on public transit? They also talk about YouTube’s latest FTC fine, a new partnership between TikTok and the National Football League and more. Source: eMarketer.com – podcast Date:… Read more »
Change the World 2019: Where Business Creates Virtuous Circles
Description: You might not expect modern corporations to tackle an urgent problem of the 21st century by looking back to the 1950s. But that’s what one group of companies is doing with a new service called Loop, whose backers refer to its approach as “the milkman model.” Source: Fortune.com Date: Aug 19, 2019 Link: https://fortune.com/2019/08/19/change-the-world-circular-economy/ Questions… Read more »
Elon Musk and Jack Ma agree: This existential threat is getting overlooked, and it’s not those killer robots
Description: There are almost 8 billion people on Earth and, if United Nations projections play out, that number is expected to balloon to 10 billion by 2057. That’s a lot… but maybe not enough, at least according to the two tech visionaries who tangled on stage for almost an hour at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in… Read more »
Whole Foods CEO on plant-based meat boom: Good for the environment but not for your health
Description: There are currently two main, buzzy players in the plant-based “meat” market: Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. Source: CNBC.com – video report Date: Aug 21, 2019 Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/21/whole-foods-ceo-john-mackey-plant-based-meat-not-good-for-your-health.html Questions for discussion: What is happening in the alternative-to-meat industry? Why is this industry growing in popularity? Where do you see developments heading over the next… Read more »
An Insider Takes Aim at Corporate America’s ‘Elite Charade’
Description: As a conference-circuit regular and former McKinsey consultant, writer Anand Giridharadas has seen firsthand business leaders’ efforts to solve social problems. Here’s why he’s come to see those efforts as more self-serving than world-changing. Source: Fortune.com Date: Aug 20, 2019 Link: https://fortune.com/longform/anand-giridharadas-winners-take-all/ Questions for discussion: Summarize what Anand Giridharadas has to say about corporate… Read more »
