Technical essays often strive for simplicity and clarity. However, we should not confuse striving for clarity in arguments with desiring conclusive outcomes. Some concepts are inherently ambiguous. Some cultures and languages have created room for such ambiguity to thrive. Luis Frois, a 16th-century missionary in Japan, wrote in Topsy-turvy, that “We avoid vague expressions” while Japanese “set a high value on the ambiguous”. He wrote, “We write letters in great length, they write brief ones”. Maybe Frois was right. Perhaps he was wrong about his conclusion. Can we let this one be ambiguous? Ambiguity is not “known unknowns”. When I think of known unknowns, I think of unknowns that we can’t be sure about, but it is possible with more and…
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In light of the recent conflicts, India has made a move to ban TikTok and Wechat and 57 other apps, made by firms that are all based in China. This ban is a big loss for ByteDance, as TikTok had surprisingly “cracked” the challenging mobile market in India. I explain the appeal of Tiktok in India. The issue with the Indian market typifies that challenges that face Chinese Internet firms that seek to go global.
Leave a CommentI explore the natural boundaries of Amazon’s customer obsession – tracing the notion from Aesop’s Fables to the Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Leave a CommentWSJ reports that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract manufacturer of silicon chips, would spend $12 billion to build a chip factory in Arizona. I have been arguing on this blog for sourcing suppliers closer to the customer location (my first research paper was on dual sourcing and near sourcing) and building more plants in the US. So, I view this development as good news, but with a fair amount of caution. It is frustrating. News reports always seem to score these decisions based on how the political benefit will play out and this WSJ report is no exception. (This is an election year in the US. Which year isn’t an election year? In addition, US Senator McSally…
Leave a CommentRecently, Musk was again in news due to his tweets — probably not his most famous or costliest tweet ever — for threatening to move Tesla HQ out of California and manufacturing out of the Fremont CA plant. Supply chains and production has been sputtered in the US and elsewhere due to COVID. It is true that maintaining idle plants is prohibitively expensive. I take a look at how Fremont plant works well for Tesla, and how shifting capacity is complicated.
Leave a CommentSupply Chains ran our lives quietly and without fuss, but due to the pandemic, they have gained media attention.
The pandemic has created stress on business and efficient supply chains. Many journalists seek to write on why we are seeing massive stock-outs for some products and not for others. The best strategy would be to directly talk to supply chain experts and practitioners who deal with global supply chains. This post is a quick note arguing, no, toilet paper shortage are not due to asset bubbles like tulip mania. It is just supply inflexibility for a functional product, what we call as “bullwhip” in supply chains.
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The 2020 INFORMS Analytics Conference is FREE and online! This is a great opportunity to see some cool talks from your sofa! Here is the LINK! [More …]
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