Strategy in TECH...
I received a tip from a tech supplier here in the U.S. that the Coronavirus epidemic impacting China is a big problem getting bigger every day…and that our industry needs to think about – and prepare for – the impact on our supply chain. This week, Strata-gee surveyed several brands to learn their status on product supply…and what their perspective was on the near-term future impact of this epidemic taking place in China.
I wanted to take a moment to share with you a little bit of news about emerging developments taking place at Strata-gee. There are some significant things in the works – many yet to come – but a few we can talk about now.
Last week, Strata-gee reported that housing construction starts jumped mightily in December 2019 – but now we learn in a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that new home sales actually declined at the same time. Typically, analysts like to see both home sales and construction starts increase together as an indicator of a healthy economy.
Like at the end of the Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street, it appears that Santa brought new homes for all the good little girls and boys at the end of last year. New government data on residential housing construction starts for December 2019 startled economists, jumping an unexpected 16.9% for the highest rate of construction in 13-years.
Racepoint Energy, sister company of Savant Systems LLC, announced this week that it has acquired innovative residential lighting control provider NOON Home. Based in Campbell, CA, NOON offers an impressive array of intuitive lighting and intelligent control solutions.
Melrose Industries plc, the British turnaround specialist who acquires underperforming companies to improve their operations and management for resale, is now actively considering selling off the bulk of Nortek in a deal that could be worth $3 billion, according to reports from Bloomberg News and the Financial Times. If they actually execute this sale, it will be a relatively early exit from their ownership of Nortek which they purchased in 2016 for $2.8 billion.
Bose Corp. announced earlier today that it will close a total of 119 Bose retail stores as a response to changing retail purchasing trends. The locations to be closed represents their entire retail footprint in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia.
CES 2020, the big show, is about over (ending the day this was posted) and as usual there are a slew of announcements. It can be a little overwhelming with so much happening in Las Vegas, but there are some stories that flat out are just more important or interesting than others.
For many, many years the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) – an exposition hosted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) – was a huge part of the technology industry. In many ways, it was virtually the embodiment of tech – you HAD to go there to discover the latest products that were being shown to buyers so they could get their orders placed in time for the prime selling season starting in the fall of that year.
Sonos announced on Tuesday that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against tech powerhouse Google – by far their biggest…and potentially riskiest…action yet. And perhaps keeping Emerson’s quote in mind, Sonos took a double punch at the king, filing a lawsuit against Google in the District Court for the Central District of California…AND at the same time, filing a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission. This is the first time, Sonos has started a war on two fronts, suggesting to me that they are deadly serious in this effort.
