(Photo credit: Alamy, The Economist). The Economist (subscription) has a review of an upcoming biography of Joseph Conrad by Maya Jasanoff (The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World. Penguin Press). The magazine calls Conrad the “First Novelist of Globalization”, which I think is quite accurate. Conrad, born in Ukraine, ran away to sea-faring at 16, landed in the UK at 21. He wrote about regions unfamiliar at the birth of globalization – South East Asia (in Lord Jim) and Belgian Congo (Into the Heart of Darkness, which inspired Apocalypse Now) – lands that stretched in the unknowns (compared to British Raj in India). Think of all the people writing about what AI means to the world, now. Conrad is…
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Here is the previous post on Amazon Key, which begins services on Nov 8 in about 37 cities. Many are skeptical about the usefulness or the need for the service. For instance, here is “I’m not ready for Amazon Key” on CNBC, and a dramatic narration (“I’d rather have porch pirates steal my sponges than let Amazon in my house“) of the trust-in-service path point that I made in my previous post on Amazon Key. Here is a Statista chart capturing the results of a poll: “How comfortable do you feel about guest access via smart locks?” (source: in the chart). Here is another chart through Morning Consult that gives some additional information on reception to the idea based on…
Leave a CommentIn 2014, Tech Crunch reported Amazon filing a patent for “Anticipatory Shipping”, i.e., getting the package ready for shipping even before a customer orders the package. The coverage on this issue has been minimal. Today, through a student (ht: PB), here is an article on Economist (subscription required) about German firm Otto using AI and machine-learning to purchase 200,000 items a month from third-party suppliers without any human intervention. The orders are made purely based on machine learning on 3 billion prior transactions and a variety of variables (weather, etc.). Two important factors stood out from the article. Customers are less likely to return if the product arrived within two days. Pre-shipping helps eliminate risks due to shipping delays. (There…
Leave a CommentThe Amazon Cloud Cam and compatible locks. Photo Credit: Becca Farsace / The Verge Amazon has just released Amazon Key to Amazon Prime members. (I am not an Amazon affiliate, i.e., I derive no financial interest from the link). Amazon Key is a product-service bundle that includes buying an indoor security camera, and a compatible (electronic) smart lock on your door (totaling $250). Hardware is not dead yet. See detailed coverage at Verge. How does the Amazon Key delivery work? Amazon authorizes the delivery, then turns on the security camera, and unlocks the customer’s door. The customer will get a confirmation (via email/text) that his or her package was delivered. Customers can watch the delivery live or later through a recorded…
Leave a CommentI received an email note from a student in the Forecasting class (thanks: HT) about excess inventories of Snap Spectacles. The article on Information (subscription required) mentions that only (slightly more than) 150,000 units were sold and hundreds of thousands of unsold units sitting in warehouses. Snap contends that the sales exceeded their own expectations, but clearly the pre-sales expectations were high (as documented here and here). A lot of coverage was brimming with snark (some of it from the very folks who were excited about the product), and ex-post analysis of how bad the product is. I am no fan of Snap. However, I wanted to highlight a few points while providing a back-of-the-envelope framework to think about the…
One CommentWall Street Journal reports that Amazon has signed contracts with Apartment building owners and managers in order to install 850,000 locker units in apartment complexes. One of the challenges that remain in last-mile deliveries is “matching” delivery times with guaranteed time windows. Say, you need a delivery to be made between 1-3 pm on Tuesday. It is hard for a firm (i.e., expensive to accomplish, not mathematically hard) to make sure that the delivery occurs exactly in that window. Having some select products in stock at lockers in apartment complexes will address some of the “matching” problems. This is effectively like the consignment model in the medical devices industry. The devices are physically held at hospitals, but owned by device companies…
One CommentHere is a New York Times article by Farah Stockman that focuses on the story of a steelworker Shannon Mulcahy who had to go through the unenviable task of training her replacements when her job was outsourced to Mexico. It is good to see that journalism is alive and well. Stories that focus on one person are illustrative in the same way as business school case studies that focus on a firm. Shannon especially represents the admirable traits of every-day Americans: charity and decency. Outsourcing decisions are terribly fraught with real human costs, especially when there are few other economic opportunities for those whose jobs are outsourced, with no political solution on the horizon. I wanted to mention a few points that…
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