Tipping point of a sustainable future

28

September

2016

5/5 (2)

Humanities nature of pushing boundaries can economically be explained by the invisible hand of Adam Smith. The pushing culture resulted in short-term tendencies, which damaged our habitat. Especially energy generated from fossil fuels like gas and coal. This increasing stretch on our big blue marble comes with a price. Not for the planet as many shall be thinking, but for living organisms like humans. Kind of ironic that the outraging exploitation of our planet will not harm it, but will ultimately strike us. And kind of funny that the root for our problem, economic rational shall give us a solution.

Headlines aren’t covering it, but at this moment a silent revolution is taking place. It is driven by technology and progressive businessmen. These people realize, that besides the greenhouse effect, fossil fuels are limited. To maintain their wealth, they started to invest in alternative energy. This generated an acceleration in sustainable energy. Because of these technological developments and investment activities sustainable energy is cheaper than energy generated by fossil fuels. This tipping point is reached without governmental financial aid. Therefore, it is the economic rational that gives the ultimate solution. This incentive will speed up the transition to sustainable energy. This scenario is not a futuristic one, but a reality in countries such as Brazil, Australia and United Arab Emirates. Other countries like Spain, Germany and Morocco will reach their tipping point in a few years. How come that the Netherlands is not following these developments and increased the use of coal to produce energy? Dutch government policy about sustainability is powerless, missing a clear vision and the drive to innovate.

Looking at the five forces model of Porter you can envision that the treat of sustainable energy as a substitute of fossil generated energy in the coming decade is high. The quality of the two different sources of energy is equal, this will not change the threat. But knowing that the substitute is (becoming) cheaper and that switching costs are low may have enormous consequences for current energy suppliers. These substitute threats may be reduced by initial high capital investments and the need for economies of scale. Therefore, there will be no abundance of new entrants. But a lot of capital is flowing in the sustainable energy sector. A record of 286 billion dollars for investments and new capital can create economies of scale and hence new entrants can form a threat. You can think of large pension funds who grasp the opportunities and have a policy in sustainable development.  Will current leading energy companies make the transition earlier because of these developments? Will society profit from this in terms of wealth but also in welfare? Which technologies will be leading?

References:

6 procent van onze stroom kwam vorig jaar uit wind. (2016, November 28). Retrieved September 28, 2016, from http://nos.nl/artikel/2134785-6-procent-van-onze-stroom-kwam-vorig-jaar-uit-wind.html

Armstrong, R., & Perez-Arriaga, I. (2014, November 10). The Utility of the Future. Retrieved September 26, 2016, from http://energy.mit.edu/news/the-utility-of-the-future/

De doorbraak van duurzaam. (2016, August 25). Retrieved September 28, 2016, from http://www.vpro.nl/programmas/tegenlicht/speel~VPWON_1261670~de-doorbraak-van-duurzaam-vpro-tegenlicht~.html

Luttikhuis, P. (2016, September 22). ‘Duurzame welvaart is onze taak’ Retrieved September 28, 2016, from https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2016/09/22/duurzame-welvaart-is-onze-taak-4406112-a1522876

McCrone, A., Moslener, U., D’Estais, F., Usher, E., & Grüning, C. (2016, March). Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016, from http://fs-unep-centre.org/publications/global-trends-renewable-energy-investment-2016

Porter, M. E., & Millar, V. E. (1985). How information gives you competitive advantage.

Please rate this

Pewdiepie

12

October

2015

No ratings yet.

I guess you’ve all heard of the YouTube celebrity Felix Kjellberg A.K.A. Pewdiepie. If not, he is the most subscribed YouTuber with an astounding 40 million subscribers, mostly playing ‘indie’ or unpopular videogames while live commentating the event. In 2015, his annual income is estimated to be 4 million dollars a year and his net worth is estimated around 16 million dollars. And he’s only 25 years old! (Net Worth 2015)
Where does all this money come from?

First, let me freshen up your memory by explaining the phenomenon called ‘Social Commerce’. “Simply defined, social commerce is the fusion of social media with e-commerce or basically the concept of word-of-mouth applied to e-commerce.” (Marsden 2010)
So, in the case of Pewdiepie’s channel there are some signs of social commerce. For example, every month Pewds gets a package containing several collector items which are all related by theme, like ‘Villains’. He unboxes the items on screen and comments on them. At the end of the video he advises people to also buy these ‘Loot Crates’. The video below is one of the examples of this word-of-mouth on his channel.

Another important way companies gain a lot of awareness is when Pewdiepie plays their game. Then, the so-called Oprah effect comes into force. The Oprah effect is the effect that an appearance on a famous show can have on a small business. (Investopedia 2015) Because Pewdiepie nearly has 10 billion views, a recommendation can have a significant influence on the game developers.

Not a lot of people know that Pewdiepie actually is signed under Maker Studios, a company owned by Walt Disney, which produces videos for channels on YouTube. (Maker Studios 2015) The funny thing is, Pewdiepie says in his videos that he never gets paid to promote the videogames he plays. (YouTube 2015)

Is he telling the truth? Or is he lying and exploiting all of his subscribers? That making money is his main motive?
What do you guys think?

References:
– Investopedia (2015) Oprah Effect http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/oprah-effect.asp
– Maker Studios (2015) Makers http://www.makerstudios.com/makers
– Marsden, P. (2010) Social Commerce: Monetizing Social Media, Hamburg: Syzygy.
– Net Worth (2015) Pewdiepie http://www.the-net-worth.com/2015/05/pewdiepie/
– YouTube (2015) Pewdiepie https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie/

Please rate this

Successful Marketing Campaigns on Social Media

7

September

2012

No ratings yet.

During class today we discussed about successful social media marketing campaigns like Starbucks, IKEA and Target Corp. By curiosity I started searching on the web looking for more social media campaign examples. There are a lot of awesome ideas about how to use social media for your company!

One of my favourite I want to share with you guys is from Dunkin’ Donuts.

Dunkin'Donuts

I also found a funny commercial from Evian. This was a remarkable campaign, because most companies first air a commercial on TV and then post it later on the internet. Evian unleashed a funny viral video campaign online and it packed out really good! Their online campaign gained a huge amount of positive reactions on youtube. Now (or not anymore, because it’s ‘old’) you can see the commercial on TV.

Seeing this, it looks like online campaigns have more or less (or even more!) the same  effect than TV. And considering the fact that maybe the costs of using the internet is lower, do you think companies are going to use online campaigns instead of TV? Or will broadcasting on TV be just as attractive in the future? I hope the first one, than I can watch my programs without any disturbances of commercials!!

Ps. In my reaction I promised to post the commercial about dangers of chatting I referred to. Click here to see the youtube video! It’s a dutch commercial, so I hope the internationals among us understand the message of the video :-).

Please rate this