AH's Profile

The attempt to create network effects and showing how others achieved their fitness goals is smart. The key issue here in my opinion is accurately tracking the data. People are likely to misrepresent their own behaviors, leading to false success stories. Fitness plans from professionals may be more engaging for users – as we have seen Nike do for teenage football players engaging stars. Given the strong partnerships UnderArmour already established, going after the right sponsor figures may be the right next step.

Fascinating to hear translation may become a key revenue stream for a company like Duolingo. I fear the quality of the translation would not be better than Google translate. Would Duolingo be able to provide effective quality assurance for the translation? Furthermore, with sites like upwork (https://www.upwork.com/) already significantly reduce the price of translation by native speakers using a large freelance network.
While I am worried about the revenue stream, I would like to find a way to keep Duolingo alive. Perhaps integrating it to formal education with public support is a viable option here?

Regarding the monetization challenges of online dating, I think it is interesting to note that the Match Group operates several of the most popular dating websites: match.com, OKCupid, PlentyOfFish, Tinder. Their strategy to introduce these different sites that effectively provide the same services to slightly different target markets at various price points is very effective in my opinion.

I agree face-to-face interactions will remain important to build businesses and establish relationships. I considered writing my post about the trend against these in pharma. Novartis developed an online conference broadcaster service to enable more doctors around the world to participate in medical conferences. This does not only allow broader participation, but also reduces costs for the pharma company and avoid accusations that doctors may feel they owe something to the company for the conference they have attended. I wonder whether video conferences will ever overtake in person events.
https://www.novartis.com/news/novartis-evolving-business-practices-better-educate-medical-community

Interesting views, thank you. I agree that one of the biggest challenges for consultancies moving digital is hiring the right talent. Acquisitions seem to be a popular approach for this in the industry, but they often fail as team members leave the acquired company before it is fully integrated. Another big challenge I see for the strategy consultancies is pure scale. Delivering technology applications requires not only developers, but also testers, maintenance and long-term support providers. To effectively scale, consultancies have to be able to provide these services as well at competitive price points. Necessary investments in infrastructure further complicate the matter.

Very interesting. Would it be easy to convince hotels to use more efficient laundry and kitchen systems? There may be a resistance to change even if some new solutions in the market promise results. We are all used to claims that certain laundry systems work better only to find stains remaining on an item. Customer perception is important, just imagine getting a stained towel once.
I agree with Andrea, lower water pressure may not go unnoticed either.
Is water usage reduced if the hotel room has no bathtub, only a shower?

The longer flight times will lead to significant operational challenges across the network, as we have seen in our United case. I wonder how much buffer is added to the flight schedules at the moment to prepare for the potential longer time in the air as you explain above. It is also difficult to gradually increase the flight time as customers remember how long their route normally takes.
Regulating emissions from airlines is a significant challenge that global regulation should address. Hopefully we are making progress: http://theconversation.com/airline-emissions-and-the-case-for-a-carbon-tax-on-flight-tickets-56598

Adverse weather conditions impact airline operations quickly. The impact of these trickle down to other locations in the network, as we have seen in the United case. Customers stuck at airports may be at higher risk also as they are further away from the safety of their homes. I wonder whether the risks at airports are higher granting more immediate action.
Reducing the carbon dioxide emission of the overall transportation operations, as suggested above, is another key pillar here in my opinion as it can mobilize the broader population for a good cause.

Very interesting! In addition to the move to organic cotton, it looks like a number of fast fashion retailers are moving to synthetic materials as well. Not if synthetic materials were any more sustainable.
I would love to know more about your take on H&M’s Conscious Collection as well – to what extent are they developing this to resolve their own raw material constraints vs to appeal to a niche customer segment that may care about sustainability?

Loads of interesting points here. Like x96791 I would be interested to look at what can be done to reduce emissions from transportation as well as the operating activities of the cafes. While moving to hot food increased the carbon footprint of the stores, I think it is a smart diversification move. I was also thinking about the Teavana acquisition in terms of carbon footprint and diversification.