Wal-Mart disrupting pharmacies

Wal-Mart recently started selling generic prescription drugs over its stores for $4. It is already covering 38 states throughout the United States and its portfolio includes more than 300 prescription drugs. The question that arises is: does this move from the giant retailer represent a disruptive innovation to traditional pharmacies?

Free, as long as you watch my ads

There is a growing trend towards free products or services that are based on advertising revenue. Just think about all the Internet portals, Web 2.0 companies and the like. Some time ago Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google) said that mobile phones should also be free, and instead of charging mobile operators should place targeted advertising.

Open source innovation

The Business 2.0 magazine has an interesting article covering what they called “crowdcasting”, which could be seen as open source innovation. The article basically describes how established companies like General Electric, IBM and DaimlerChrysler are turning to crowds of students to foster innovation within their companies.

Motorola and the Iridium flop

Many people argue that companies are able to use innovation to create needs within customers. The iPod is a classic example, people defend that the world never needed such fashionable device before Apple created it. In my opinion, however, it is not possible to create needs within customers.

Madrid airport

I am sitting at the Madrid airport as I write this. I know that you could care less but hey, those are the benefits of writing a blog, you can talk about your personal experiences once in a while. Unfortunately there was no direct flight from Milan to Sao Paulo so I was forced to get a connection through Spain.