Companies Can Have Digital Superpowers: Lazada vs. Grab. Luckin vs. Hellobike. (Tech Strategy – Podcast 37)

In this class, Jeffrey Towson discusses how companies can develop digital superpowers to gain a competitive advantage. He compares and contrasts four companies in Asia that have successfully used digital technology to transform their businesses: Lazada, Grab, Luckin Coffee, and Hellobike. Towson argues that digital superpowers can be used to dramatically improve the user experience, enable a platform business model, create network effects, or provide other competitive advantages.

Tencent’s China Literature Biz, UGC as IP, and a Really Clever Audience Builder (Daily Update – Jeff’s Asia Tech Class)

This past week, I’ve been talking about TikTok and Alibaba’s Tudou-Youku as examples of “audience builder” digital platforms. These are +2 sided platform that connect content creators (who want an audience and other things) with viewers (who want entertainment or other types of content.) And I’ve argued that audience builders are actually more fluid and […]

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JD vs. Alibaba: How Retailers and Marketplace Platforms Compete and Evolve in China (Tech Strategy – Podcast 18)

In this podcast episode of Jeff’s Asia Tech Class, Jeffrey Towson discusses the competitive advantages of JD and Alibaba, two of the largest retailers in China. He argues that JD’s competitive advantages include its strong logistics network and its focus on customer service, while Alibaba’s competitive advantages include its large user base and its ability to connect buyers and sellers.

Alibaba, Complementary Platforms and Why Dinosaur Packs Are Scary (Daily Update – Jeff’s Asia Tech Class)

I consider digital platforms the super predators of the business world. They are like that Indominus Rex dinosaur in the movie Jurassic World that is part T-Rex and part velociraptor (photo here). And when it breaks free (which always happens in those movies), it runs around eating everything on the island. Because it is the […]

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Alibaba and How To Cheat in Innovation Marathons (Daily Update – Asia Tech Strategy)

In previous Daily Updates, I presented 4 slides that showed the evolution of Alibaba as a powerful marketplace platform. A 3 Slide Summary of Alibaba and Marketplace Platform Strategy (Daily Update, Jeff’s Asia Tech Class) Alibaba and the Power of Externalizing Capabilities (Daily Update – Jeff’s Asia Tech Class) In the first one, I argued […]

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How Should Huawei’s Smartphone Business Respond to the US Tech Ban? Part 2 (Tech Strategy – Podcast 17)

In this podcast episode, Jeffrey Towson discusses four options for how Huawei can respond to the US tech ban on its smartphone business. These options include fixing the supply chain, becoming a digital platform, ignoring Europe, and trying to build an anti-US alliance for smartphone operating systems. Towson argues that Huawei’s best option is to become a digital platform, as this would allow it to continue to innovate and grow its business even in the face of the US tech ban.

A 3 Slide Summary of Alibaba and Marketplace Platform Strategy (Daily Update, Jeff’s Asia Tech Class)

Hi, I’ve been building out visual models of platform businesses for like 4 years. From Alibaba and JD to Google and MasterCard. The goal is to visually show the key interactions and sources of competitive strength. For simple marketplace platforms, like EBay, my pictures are pretty simple. But for companies like Alibaba and JD, they […]

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