Category: news

Here are my “stay-at-home” holidays reads. Get inspired!

1. Mars
The lockdown-enabled hobby of mine. I have literally opened my horizons and wish you to use this time to learn something new. Like our neighbor, planet Mars!

2. Subprime Nation, a very detailed and thorough analysis of the world working laboriously to re-install the US as a global power. Are we repeating the same mistakes, making poor nations poorer and the US stronger and richer than ever before ring now?

3. Atomic Habits
Self-development book. An easy to follow guide on changing yourself into a better version of you. Highly recommend.

4. Chimpanzee politics
The story of power and social life of apes in captivity. Can’t wait to see the parallels with human society. Excited! Got it today as a birthday gift.

European Commission’s Remanufacture Report 2015 states that currently, less than 2% of all produced products are remanufactured. Nevertheless, this sector employs 194,000 people and accounts for almost 30Bln€ in revenue in EU alone.

In December 2019, the EU Green Deal has been announced. It was then adopted by France and Germany in March 2020 turbo-boosting the remanufacturing industry by imposing significant limitation on product-to-waste business models and incentifying remanufacturing.

For example, on February 10th 2020, France has adopted their own “Anti-waste law for the circular economy”. Among it’s five core objectives, part 4 specifically focuses on remanufacturing:

1. Apply a repairability index and make progress towards a durability index
2. Facilitate repair and promote the use of used spare parts
3. Extend the legal guarantee of conformity
4. Introduce mandatory information on the duration of computer and phone operating software updates
5. Create repair funds
6. Enable the use of 3D printing for the repair of objects”

#remanufacture#EUGreenDeal#Antiwaste

(image source: thesamba.com)

Here are two exciting books I am finishing now. Quite unorthodox. Written by a historian Yuval Harari. Highly recommend!

Some of my favorite quotes from Homo Deus:

“History isn’t a single narrative, but thousands of alternative narratives. Whenever we choose to tell one, we are also choosing to silence others.”

“The greatest scientific discovery was the discovery of ignorance. Once humans realised how little they knew about the world, they suddenly had a very good reason to seek new knowledge, which opened up the scientific road to progress.”

Some of my favorite quotes from the 21 lessons:

“If you cannot afford to waste time, you will never find the truth.”

“The very sophisticated artificial intelligence of computers might only serve to empower the natural stupidity of humans.”

By manufacturing a never-ending stream of crises, a corrupt oligarchy can prolong its rule indefinitely.”

Enough is enough! I am devastated to see disturbing images like this. The dark side of consumerism is now manifested in the greatest extinction ever. As consumers we should demote single-use packaging. And as professionals in retail or industry, we should advocate for healthier and sustainable solutions. What are the best practices you know or have around? How do you personally contribute to your children’s future? Can we literally go for zero waste? Should our governments overtax plastic as nicotine or sugary drinks to demote consumption? If you have rapturous ideas, talk to me. I’m looking for ways to go above and beyond conventional wisdom.

Finally happy to settle back home after three months of back-to-back kick-off sessions, meeting great people, seing great changes in the world’s leading FMCG retail companies.

Here are some thoughts to summarize what I’ve seen, heard and shared from Lisbon to Shanghai:

– brick&mortar is not dead. It changes, like you and me, we change. Some get old, some die, some get born. Normal, never-ending process. Organised retail is only 60 years old and it follows customers like no other sector.

– big box is not dead. Hypermarket is the most product-to-consumer efficient model. People love surprises, we love gratification. More fun, more quality engagement with shoppers will be the next global trend. Spending time off mobile is great!

– every single country has its own rules of the game. There are no two identical countries, not even identical markets. French trends don’t mean much in Spain and China is a world of its own.

– finally, I have seen lots of great examples of how Auchan changes. Scores of local initiatives in different departments to make shopping convenient, attractive, seamless and fun. Whether it’s flying baskets or queueless check-outs or virtual advisors, I have seen passion and affection to customer.

We can only win when we put customer first, close to the heart.

Let 2019 negotiation campaign begin!

(Thank you, L’Oréal for the inspirational message :))

Reading “Start with Why” I came to this brilliant quote from Herb Kelleher, creator of the Southwest, one of the world’s most successful budget airlines.

Shipping 100mln orders in less then 3 days required unprecedented automation and ingenuity. Bravo Alibaba!