Imagine for a moment that your college senior is a computer science wiz at MIT and is currently deciding between three job offers. The first is Facebook. The second is a leading video gaming company. The final one is less familiar – a start-up in Seattle. It’s called Convoy. The company reduces the percent of time trucks spend on the road with an empty load. Which job would you want your child to take? I know, “Whatever makes my child happy,” is the emotionally correct answer. “What are the career trajectories?” is another question that you might suggest your child explore. Listen for a second to your inner voice, and ask your child to do the same. Where do you think he or she would make the most difference to the world? Markets value current and future financial returns. By building a social media…
Can Business Model Innovation Help Curb Obesity?
I watched Food, Inc. over the holiday weekend, a documentary about US food companies whose products fill grocery store shelves and bins and supply our numerous restaurant chains. I’m a pragmatic independent, so I’m able to see through the one-sided nature of the filmmaker’s criticisms of food companies. But there’s significant merit in the film as well. The filmmakers argue that the application of factory methods to our food system in the last two decades – with its relentless drive to reduce costs – has stripped food of its nutritional value and safety. The catalyst to the change was the emergence of super-sized buyers the likes of McDonalds and Walmart. Even if you are not a McDonalds or Walmart customer, your food choices are being driven by their demands on suppliers. One net result, the film claims, is that we are a far…