In Part 1, I went through Borsheims, Buffett’s jewelry retailer in Omaha. It has historically had a very strong business model, although this may be changing. And his jewelry business has a lot of interesting parallels to his biggest retail business, Nebraska Furniture Mart. Company 2: Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM) I was in Omaha with […]
This week’s podcast is about economies of scale in purchasing power. I go through Walmart and Costco as traditional examples. And point to JD, Apple, and Pinduoduo as digital examples. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here are types of economies of […]
I often get asked how JD competes with Alibaba (in ecommerce). Who is going to win? My answer is below. But first a little theory on the sources of competitive strength. My Checklist for Competitive Advantages I put competitive advantages in five buckets, with a total of 15 sub-types. That’s my checklist. But keep in […]
This week’s podcast is about Walgreens and Ping An Good Doctor. Both are using digital tools to create entirely new business models in healthcare. And both look like they have real strengths, if successful. I also mention CVS health. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here are the Ping An […]
In Part 1, I argued that Amazon’s ecommerce business was getting stronger over time (in terms of competitive strength). It has an impressive series of competitive advantages. Amazon Has a Winning Long-Term Strategy. Amazon Prime and Netflix Don’t. (1 of 2) (US-Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Article) I also teed up the idea that Amazon’s […]
This week’s podcast is about Amazon’s competitive advantages. We can see clearly growing moats in ecommerce. But increasing competition is revealing the lack of defenses in video streaming. Netflix has the same problem. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts. —— Related articles: Why I Really Like Amazon’s Strategy, Despite the Crap […]
I’ve discussed Amazon’s basic business model in an article and podcast. What Amazon Should Copy from Alibaba and Pinduoduo (Tech Strategy – Podcast 124) Why I Really Like Amazon’s Strategy, Despite the Crap Consumer Experience (US-Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Article) And I basically argued that I look for 3 things in this type of […]
This week’s podcast is about Amazon vs. Alibaba and Pinduoduo. There are some important strategy differences between the ecommerce leaders of the US and China. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts. —— Related articles: Why I Really Like Amazon’s Strategy, Despite the Crap Consumer Experience (US-Asia Tech Strategy – Daily […]
In Part 1, I laid out how to think about physical networks. For logistics, that means lots of warehouses and trucks doing various routes between them. In Part 2, I talked about one of the big competitive advantages of logistics networks, which is network effects. Note: These are significantly different than the network effects we […]
This week’s podcast is about Dingdong, a specialty ecommerce player in China focused on fresh groceries. It has gone public while still operating profit negative – but brings to mind a similar situation with Meituan at IPO. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. —–— Related articles: Should Vipshop Build a Logistics […]