Starbucks Doesn’t Have A Serious Competitor in China. It’s Weird.

Uber spent $2B fighting with Chinese DidiChuxing. Adidas has been fighting Chinese Li-Ning and Anta for decades. And Apple is now struggling against multiple rising Chinese competitors,(Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, etc.). One thing you can always count on in China: A successful international company will inspire serious domestic competitors. So why doesn’t Starbucks have a serious […]

博比熊与三个赢得中国消费者的决定因素

以下内容摘自《一小时看懂中国消费者》一书。 “罗伯特·拉文(Robert Ravens)是一名澳大利亚农民,也是“博比熊”(Bobbie Bear)的发明者,他住在一个偏远的塔斯马尼亚农场,用田野上多余的薰衣草做出了一种泰迪熊,颜色是明亮的紫色,里面填充了一些小麦和一个暖袋,这种小熊放在微波炉中加热后,会散发出迷人的薰衣草芬芳,抱着它入睡能让人一夜好梦。拉文斯主要在网上和自家的农场礼品店中销售博比熊。

I Applied Warren Buffett’s 25-5 Rule to My Career – And It Totally Worked.

Alternate Headline: “I Applied Warren Buffett’s 25-5 Rule – and Now I Am Trying to Date Jessica Alba.” Warren Buffett’s 25-5 rule came out of advice he gave to his airline pilot Mike Flint. The story (which may not be 100% accurate) is that he advised Mike to make a list of his 25 career […]

五个问题解读滴滴、摩拜和中国的新型小物品租赁业务(第二部分)

在第一部分,我提出中国不存在新型“共享经济”——这就是中国新企业(如滴滴、摩拜,以及针对篮球、充电宝和雨伞的小物品租赁企业)为什么如此令人困惑。然而,有一件事更加引人注目:在使用和便捷度方面出现了新的数字颠覆者。第一部分的关键点包括: Ÿ忘记“共享经济”一词。 Ÿ转而思考,究竟是“使用经济”还是“占有经济”。 Ÿ新的数字工具和流程(如智能手机)能够对需求或供给,或同时对二者产生颠覆效应。 Ÿ在中国所出现的,是使用和便捷度方面的典型颠覆现象。

Why Bike-Sharing (Ofo, MoBike) Is Nothing Like Didi and Uber (i.e., Ride-Sharing).

When bike-sharing first emerged, it was proclaimed to be the newest frontier of China’s sharing economy. And following the big fight between Uber China and Didi, it was quickly compared to ride-sharing. But there’s a problem. Bike-sharing is not really sharing. It is not part of the sharing economy.  Bike-sharing does not have a network effect (yet). […]

The Solution to China’s Digital Health Problems? Go Direct to Consumers.

There has been a lot of soul-searching by entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and Internet companies about what has gone wrong in Chinese digital health. Thousands of digital health companies have been launched and funded in recent years but there have been few, if any, big successes. However, if the past few years were overly optimistic, I […]

星巴克在中国:轻而易举的巨大成功

跨国公司和企业家们怀揣梦想,奔向中国的13亿消费者。然而,面对残酷竞争的汪洋大海、无处不在的政治变化和复杂情况、危机四伏的中国市场,大多数企业溃不成军、黯然离开。少数企业一路披荆斩棘,或小有所成,或占据市场一隅。 与之相比,星巴克在中国的巨大成功,则是如此毫不费力、轻而易举。既没有受制于严格的监管,也没有遭受本土国有企业的激烈竞争。事实上,星巴克进入中国内地18年,至今仍未遇到真正的竞争对手。前所未有,让人啧啧称奇。在探讨这一非同寻常的情况之前,先介绍一下我与星巴克中国的深厚渊源,作为背景。

What Wall Street Is Getting Wrong About Starbucks in China

Much of the Wall Street discussion about Starbucks in China seems to fall into two main groups. The bulls talk about the big China consumer trend and the increases in Mainland outlets. The bears (or the less bullish) mostly point to slowing same store growth (about 5%) and the high PE multiple. I think both […]

Two Threats to the Big China Dreams of Zara and H&M

H&M and Zara are two companies I pay a lot of attention to in China. They have great business models. Fast fashion is really impressive in general. They are popular with Chinese consumers. They are both following market leader Uniqlo in terms of expansion into second and third tier cities. They seem to be growing […]

The Very Symbolic Collision of Sotheby’s-Christie’s and Poly-Guardian in China Art (Pt 2 of 2)

*The following is an excerpt from our One Hour China Consumer Book (which is available here.). In Part 1, I told about how Christie’s and Sotheby’s have been involved in Chinese art for decades – and have recently entered China directly. This puts them in basically the wild west of the art world. Part 1 […]