The continuing goal of "The Innovation Conversation" is to explore some facet of the fast-changing, technology-driven retail landscape and how it affects businesses and consumers. It is, we think, fertile territory ... and one that Tom Furphy - a former Amazon executive who led the team that developed Amazon Fresh, and currently CEO and Managing Director of Consumer Equity Partners (CEP), a venture capital and venture development firm in Seattle, WA, that works with many top retailers and manufacturers - is uniquely positioned to address.
Today, Tom Furphy and KC consider several issues:
• The challenges that face companies involved in a merger or acquisition, as they look to innovate along parallel and complementary lines until a deal can be completed.
• How competitors to merging companies can take advantage of the moment to drive their own innovations. "It is a good time to be a better you," says Furphy.
• After a second Amazon Prime Day promotion that seemed to fizzle rather than sizzle, what next steps for the company ought to be.
• And the business lesson that can be learned from the fact that so many Major League Baseball division winners have been beaten in the playoffs by teams of lesser accomplishment. (Dorothy Lane Market's Norman Mayne is cited, just FYI.)
If you'd rather download and listen to The Innovation Conversation as an audio podcast, click below.
