Pinduoduo (PDD) has really stood out in digital – both for its ability to break into a market dominated by Alibaba and JD and for the stunning speed of its growth. Founded in 2015, PDD has grown to +800M users in six years. It grew to +$9B in revenue. Upon reaching a +$100B market cap, […]
Network effects are the brass ring of the digital age. Companies and investors, especially venture capitalists, are actively reaching for them. And, like platform business models, they can have multiple important effects. Creating surprisingly durable competitive advantages is one of them. First some general comments and then I’ll go into three types of network effects. […]
Strategy thinking has traditionally been focused on linear processes that create mostly tangible products and services. It’s a legacy of the industrial age when everything was mass production and assembly lines. Virtually every business model was a concentration of activities and assets to create value for one user group, which we call the customer. These […]
It’s easy to get lost in all the factors and phenomena emerging as digital and data technology transform industry after industry. As I have argued before, there are actually four things happening at once: Accelerating digital transformation and / or disruption. New digital tools and data technologies keep emerging. There’s big data and AI. There […]
In my previous article on Farfetch, I asked the question of whether Alibaba or another Chinese company might buy the company – and at what price. And I did a brief introduction on Private Market Value (PMV). Which is basically a take-over price. Is Alibaba (or Another Chinese Company) Going to Buy Farfetch? (Jeff’s Asia […]
So Alibaba Investor Day was this week. Actually it was three days. And there were lots of presentations and publications. But people generally want to hear from Maggie Wu (CFO) and Daniel Zhang (CEO). Their two presentations on the final day are a big deal. I went through everything (so you don’t have to). And […]
This is Part 3 in a three part series about Ant Group / Ant Financial. In this part, I talk about how sustained innovation is the primary strategy for maintaining their competitive advantages. Part 1 is How Ant Financial / Ant Group is Revolutionizing Finance (1 of 3) (Jeff’s Asia Tech Class – Podcast […]
In Podcast 41, I talked about 3 ways network effects suck. They do have some major problems. And these are not discussed as much as their benefits. This will also tee up my third talk on Ant Financial, a company that is mostly about platforms and network effects. First a little theory. This is About […]
I like Bytedance. I think they make great apps. Super engaging. With fantastic user interfaces. They are one of the most innovative mobile app companies on the planet. But they suck at internationalization. Their attempt to become China’s first international digital company has been a slow moving train wreck. Lots of us have been predicting […]
This is Part 2 about Pinduoduo and the idea of interactive / engagement-driven ecommerce. In Part 1, I discussed a recent whitepaper with its authors Elliott Zaagman (co-host the China Tech Investor podcast and a research and communications professional focused on China) and Matthew Brennan (Managing Director of the China Channel.) Their whitepaper on […]