Jim Harris

Business

2018: Huawei’s Year of Opportunity

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Becoming The 2nd Largest Smartphone Maker Globally Smartphone OS war is over. And Android won: Android will finish 2017 with 85.1% market share and iOS 14.7%, predicts IDC. So, there are only two operating systems left standing. Android is dominant by market share and sheer volume of units shipped but Apple is taking the lion’s share of revenue and profit. From the chart above it’s clear that the open source Android operating system was a profoundly disruptive innovation to Symbian, Blackberry and Windows, driving their smartphone market share to basically nothing. Why 2018 Will Be A Great Year For HuaweiHuawei surpassed Apple in market share globally in July 2017 according to Counterpoint. With the release of the iPhone 8 and X, Apple has regained the second spot but some fundamental shifts are favouring Huawei’s continued rise. Samsung Crisis on Note 7 Exploding BatteryOne: Samsung seriously faltered with the fiasco of the exploding Note 7 batteries. Up until that point, I had been a Samsung fan and had been an avid user of the Note 4. I had been planning on upgrading to the Note 7 but the fiasco turned me off. The product recall cost Samsung $6 billion and the stock price in the short term lost $17 billion. The biggest hit, however, was to the company’s reputation. Harris Poll ranks the reputation of the 100 most visible companies in the US and in 2017 Samsung dropped dramatically. In 2016, it was ranked … [Read more...] about 2018: Huawei’s Year of Opportunity

Still paying a fortune to the cable company?

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This column began with a Rogers bill. I was paying $200 a month for cable and a PVR, and feeling gouged. I set about to explore alternatives. The term “cutting the cable” has become popular—a Google search nets 63.6 million results—and there are many alternatives for people frustrated with traditional cable providers. … [Read more...] about Still paying a fortune to the cable company?

2013: mobile continues its march, PCs still sell and no one wants UHD TVs

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Two recent tech events highlighted a fascinating sea change in the global consumer electronics (CE) market. Only two categories in the market are experiencing growth: smartphones and tablets. They combine for 40 per cent of CE sales, worth one trillion dollars annually, but every other category is contracting. This trend was evident at both the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and Deloitte’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions 2013. Here are the key insights:[...] … [Read more...] about 2013: mobile continues its march, PCs still sell and no one wants UHD TVs

Identifying barriers to adoption of sustainable business practices

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In October, sustainability consultant and former federal Green Party leader Jim Harris presented the business case for sustainability to delegates of the CIMA Canada Conference 2012. Mr. Harris put forward the argument that sustainable business practices weren’t just a matter of ethics, but also tools for cost reduction and profitability, citing several studies and examples that proved his thesis. However, he also noted that few organizations have adopted sustainability practices because the issue simply isn’t on their radar. He recently spoke with the Financial Post’s Dan Ovsey about why he believes this to be true and what he sees as the biggest barriers to sustainability. Following is an edited transcript of their conversation.[...] … [Read more...] about Identifying barriers to adoption of sustainable business practices

Newspapers are suffering

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It’s easy to blame craigslist, but the real culprit is economic short-sightednessFor newspapers it has been death by a thousand cuts: American readership has been falling by more than 700,000 a year since 2000, according to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), and revenue was already down when the recession came along and shot another body blow to advertising income.[...] … [Read more...] about Newspapers are suffering

In Business, Don’t Waste a Crisis

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Many Canadians are trying to do more with less during this economy of thrift. But we all face essential expenses -- those costs associated with "keeping the lights on" -- often, literally.Whether you're managing a household or a large corporation, energy -- that stuff that enables your car to move from one place to another, keeps your beer cold and your shower hot -- is generally regarded as an essential expense. Sure, you could drink warm beer and take cold showers; but really? There's got to be a better way.During a poor economy, it can be a challenge for a business to increase profitability as competition for the "cautious consumer" intensifies and there is increasing pressure on margins. But a recession offers the perfect opportunity to question the way things have always been done -- and drive out waste and inefficiency. One of Jim's favourite slogans is: "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste."While most are cautiously optimistic about the North American economy today, it was a different story in the latter half of 2008 when Canadian Tire launched its Business Sustainability Strategy with an aspiration to profitably grow the business without increasing energy use or contributing to an increase in the carbon footprint of the economy.And the company has been somewhat successful: energy and fuel used to move product from vendors to stores is nine per cent lower, despite a 22 per cent increase in tonne-km of product shipped. And energy use for buildings and … [Read more...] about In Business, Don’t Waste a Crisis

You Are Better Off Investing in Sustainability Than Stocks

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It is surprising just how big is the "sustainability" opportunity is.In just the energy efficiency (EE) field McKinsey & Company estimates that $2 trillion can be invested in EE by 2020 with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 17 per cent. To put that into perspective: that rate of return is better than investing in the stock market or in real estate over the long-term -- the two investments we're always told give the best long-term returns.The net effect would be equivalent to cutting the need for 64 million barrels of oil a day -- about one and a half times today's entire U.S. consumption.[...] … [Read more...] about You Are Better Off Investing in Sustainability Than Stocks

How Sustainability Can Save Business

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Decades of experience have shown that environmental initiatives pursued in isolation of the economic benefit are largely immaterial. But when environmental objectives are framed as business strategy and tied to business operations and measured in terms of cutting cost and increasing profitability -- significant environmental benefits are generated. And so we believe that environmentalism can save business, as the more powerful engagement tool that business has at its disposal to drive innovation.This is the first of a series of weekly columns to be published on Tuesday by Tyler Elm and Jim Harris on how sustainability as strategy cuts cost, raises revenue and mitigates risk for business.Ever since Rachel Carson's groundbreaking Silent Spring was published in 1962, environmentalists have been trying to save the planet. While there has been progress, overall the efforts have clearly failed, because the planet is in worse shape today than 50 years ago. We need not document the litany of damage here.Decades of experience have shown that environmental initiatives pursued in isolation of the economic benefit are largely immaterial.But when environmental objectives are framed as business strategy and tied to business operations and measured in terms of cutting cost and increasing profitability -- significant environmental benefits are generated. Sustainability then garners executive focus and corporate resources. Companies like General Electric, Interface … [Read more...] about How Sustainability Can Save Business