I keep an eye on the larger moves by Alibaba. Not the constant stream of announcements and endless initiatives but the larger strategic moves that I think will change the trajectory of the company. This usually means talking with management when I can and following the investor days. A couple of years ago, Maggie Wu […]
This week’s podcast is about AB InBev’s rapidly rising beverage delivery service Ze Delivery. I visited the facilities and spoke with CEO Rudolfo Chung. It’s a fascinating business model. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is one of the dark kitchens. ——– Related articles: Why I Really Like Amazon’s Strategy, […]
For the past five years, I’ve been watching Alibaba pull farther and farther ahead of Amazon in its consumer offerings. Alibaba’s ecommerce products have integrated with entertainment, especially live-streaming (which is fantastic). Payment, credit and wealth management products were built upon Alipay. Ecommerce services, like food delivery and hotels, have been added with ele.me Social […]
In the past weeks, I have sent you multiple emails with various types of competitive advantages. Such as switching costs, network effects, purchasing economies and location and transportation cost advantages. The links are below: Walmart, JD and Purchasing Economies at Traditional and Online Retailers (Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Lesson / Update) Beer, Southwest and […]
At Alibaba’s Investor Day, CEO Daniel Zhang outlined 11 growth stratgies. Five were under Domestic Consumption. The question for this class is which is the most effective of these? Which is most likely to succeed and move the needle? You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. The […]
In this class, I talk about my interview with Huawei about their 2019 financial results. And a bit about the disclosure of fraud at Luckin Coffee. You can listen here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. This is part of Learning Goals: Level 3, with a focus on: #6 Basics of Huawei #10 […]
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 […]
In this class, I talk about how online retailers like JD and marketplace platforms like Alibaba compete on different dimensions. You can listen here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. Alibaba and marketplace platforms compete on: Cost and / or difficulty of entry – including the chicken-and-egg problem and the cost of the logistics […]