E. S. Sayons

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On November 30, 2017, E. S. Sayons commented on Smart Pasta: Barilla’s Digitization of the Food Supply Chain :

Nice work on this post! I am intrigued by both the supply chain efficiency and the food safety implications of Barilla’s efforts. I am wondering if there are opportunities for other products with consumer safety risks (medicines, baby products, supplements, etc) or products that tie a great deal of their value to their supply chain (fair trade, organic, etc) to leverage the QR code and the system described here to better tell their story, increase efficiency, and increase safety. Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

On November 30, 2017, E. S. Sayons commented on Under Armour: Chasing Digitization :

Interesting thoughts on UA – thanks for sharing. Reading this I am thinking about how UA (and apparel companies more broadly) can make the jump to where Amazon is with predictive shipping. What data can UA collect about their customers that will allow them to predict when an item will need to be repurchased, replaced, or when seasonality or “must haves” will hit? Can we put microchips in shoes and weave smart threads into shirts? You sync them with your device and get workout information, but UA also gets access to this information and employs it to predict trends and purchasing behavior, which in turn gets them ahead of the curve on supply chain. I agree with James that 18 months seems like a very long time, especially when Nike can make a pair of shoes in 2.5 minutes. Any opportunity that UA can seize to employ digitization, data, etc to shorten their supply chain will be vital.

On November 30, 2017, E. S. Sayons commented on Does a Trump presidency mean fewer free t-shirts? :

Nice work on this post – particularly the punny closing! I agree with my colleagues above in that vertical integration in each market would eat in to margin to a degree that I believe would damage their core business model as a low-cost player and would tie them down to a load of fixed costs and long term assets. I am also wondering about what they set in motion with vertical integration by country if isolationism is, in fact, going to continue to spread. Will Gildan be married to vertical integration as their only play?

On November 30, 2017, E. S. Sayons commented on Nissan: Supply Chain Uncertainty in the Age of Brexit :

Nice work with this post! I tend to agree with SAM – I think the incremental, relative impacts are where the crux of the issue is, but I am wondering about these impacts not only in terms of tariff costs, but also in terms of physical flow of the parts. Will there be significant variability or delays due to increased scrutiny at the border (to determine country of origin and or percentage of the item that was made in each country)? Could a cottage industry pop up so that you can digitize the process – tracking chips and barcodes and RFIDs so you can, with a single scan, see that 50.1% of the vehicle was made in the UK?

On November 30, 2017, E. S. Sayons commented on Coca-Cola: Sustainability Visionary or Villain? :

Great piece on Coke and vibrant comments about The Company’s motivations! Thanks for sharing. This question around intention reminds me of similar discussions our section has had during cases about companies/protagonists that take on a social impact initiative (Shakti, Patrimonio Hoy, Dove, Kurt Summers, etc). What strikes me is the vigor with which we question social impact intentions and motivations in contrast to the relative lack of scrutiny we employ when looking at companies that seek value maximization, market share maximization, profit maximization (Longchamp, Aqualisa, Dollar General, etc, etc). A hyperbolic example of this phenomenon might be: If we thought a company like Coke wanted to “really make a difference” wouldn’t they stop making Coke all together since it’s terrible for you and wastes water and instead start solving for cheap, accessible desalination technology, then give the technology away for free to the world?

I don’t know why we do this or what the right answer is, but it has me thinking.