Tracy Williams's Profile

Great post! I commend Mattel’s efforts to modernize Barbie. Barbie is such an iconic toy, but it is becoming increasingly more difficult to appeal to children in the age of iPads and video games. You mentioned that Mattel should develop relationships within the start-up community, which is a great suggestion. It also made me think that children’s toys and games could be an area ripe for disruption. I know digitization is transforming educational technology and I wonder if those same concepts could be applied to toys. I would also be curious to see market research on whether Barbie still appeals to girls in current times. Mattel may be better off buying a company with technology that could be applied to Barbie, rather than trying to produce in house.

Great post Jess! I completely agree with you that there is a large market for small – medium non-profits. With a $10M budget at Meals on Wheels, it was often challenging to find robust solutions that were also affordable. We implemented an online giving platform as well as an association management system. The two systems were linked so that we could collect information and giving history of each donor. It is so important for non-profits to have data in order to target giving campaigns or make better decisions. FrontStream is taking a critical area – giving – and making it easier for smaller organizations.

Interesting post Rajit. I really liked the idea you touched on about using MOOCs to help with unemployment. Currently there is huge misalignment between the skills employers are looking for and skills the unemployed possess. Aligning with employers to produce job training content could be a potential next step for Coursera. Additionally, they could offer certificates that employers agree to recognize. Traditional higher education is very expensive and not for everyone. Finding alternatives that can train people in a most cost effective way would result in increased productivity and decreased unemployment.

Great post Graham! As a patient, I’ve often wondered if it is possible to have an electronic health record that could travel with you as a patient and be transferred to your new doctors. It sounds like EHR transfers primarily occur within a hospital or if there is an official transfer that takes place. It seems like the ability for patients to have an ongoing EHR would allow doctors to spend less time re-entering data and have a more through record. I also find Nelly’s point about national standardization interesting, but I’m not sure how feasible it would be in the current healthcare climate.

Interesting post Ben! I had the opportunity to attend a presentation with head of marketing from Citi earlier this year. She fully admitted that the bank was behind in terms of using technology in the services they provide to customers. I remember her speaking about loan applications specifically and she said that there was still no way to apply online. I thought that was pretty unbelievable in 2016. However, it does seem like Citi is taking steps to remedy that. In particular, I found the new branch models and payments to be interesting. I agree with you that they are well positioned, as long as they start to focus on what’s next rather than playing catch up.

Great piece – I like the Will Smith references! This is an interesting problem for Related Companies. I don’t see them stopping development in Miami any time soon, however this is an issue they should think about for long-term sustainability. Another issue that seems more pressing in the short-term is the increase in extreme weather related to climate change. As hurricanes and other weather events increase in strength, Related Companies should be thinking of ways to mitigate their risk. I would be curious to know if there are new innovations in architecture and buildings in order to adapt to the changing environment.

This is a well written and interesting piece! I agree with you that food retail and agriculture are critical to the discussion on climate change. I thought the two points you brought up at the end were insightful. I was surprised to learn that some retailers are already using 100% renewables. I agree that CO2 from shipping emissions sounds like a looming problem. I wonder if they are ways Wal-Mart could recycle or reuse shipping containers in order to reduce emissions.

It’s concerning to hear that water shortages could have serious impacts by 2030, which is in our lifetime. While I support the initiatives Nestle has done to conserve and recycle water, I’m not sure that this is enough. I think the real way to combat the issue is for people to stop buying plastic water bottles, which is fundamentally against Nestle’s business model. I’d be curious to see if they have seen a decline in sales as millennials seem to be more concerned about climate change than previous generations.

This is an interesting piece. Often renewables are praised in the climate change conversation. However, as you pointed out the majority of the world’s energy still comes from oil and gas. You also had a great point about energy being affordable for developing country, which is something I hadn’t considered. Clearly, firms like BP have a huge role in the climate change debate, both positive and negative. I would be curious to know what BP’s strategy for energy mix is in the next 10 – 20 years.

This is a great article within insightful analysis! Having a massive global supply chain certainly increases the risks associated with climate change for Coca-Cola. You mentioned moving towards renewable energy sources as a potential solution. I’m curious to understand how this would work with transportation and could it be applied in other areas such as production. I know that Pepsico has a “Performance with Purpose” Sustainability strategy that has made significant progress with water conservation. I would hope that Coca-Cola has similar strategies in place to start proactively addressing these risks.