I recently met with Rodolfo Chung, CEO of rapidly rising Zé Delivery in Brazil. This is a beverage delivery service that was launched by AB InBev right before Covid – and then took off like a rocket during the lockdown. Basically, it’s a mobile app that lets you order any of 500 SKUs for beer, […]
Category Archives: Network Effects
Can YouTube or Facebook Catch TikTok in Short Video? SMILE Marathons vs. the Spill-Over Effect. (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)
Jeffrey Towson, a China tech expert, believes that TikTok is difficult to copy because it is more than just an app. It is a culture and a community that has been built over time. Imitators may be able to copy the app’s features, but they will struggle to replicate its success without the same culture and community.
The Pros and Cons of Farfetch’s Global Luxury Marketplace (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)
My standard question is: What is the quality of the business? I go through lots of checklists for this. It generally takes me 40 pages of written notes to get through a basic assessment of company quality. But the simple version is: What is the market size and its growth? Is there a long-term secular […]
Amazon Has a Winning Long-Term Strategy. Amazon Prime and Netflix Don’t. (1 of 2) (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)
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 […]
ANE Logistics and Network Effects in Physical Networks (2 of 3)(Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Lesson / Update)
Ok. Let me see if I can impress you today. In Part 1, I wrote about ANE Logistics, an interesting Chinese company. But I really wanted to make a few points about the nature of logistics and physical networks: There is a difference between networks, platform business models and network effects. Physical networks are different […]
7 Things Everyone Is Getting Wrong About Alibaba Singles’ Day (Tech Strategy – Podcast 107)
Singles’ Day is not just about e-commerce. It is also about user-facing innovation, such as live-streaming, metaverse, and NFTs. It is also about merchant-facing innovation, such as R&D and financing. And it is also about physical assets, such as supply-side scale and building a barrier to entry.
Etsy and How to Predict the Winners in Specialty Ecommerce (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)
Given the political shake-up in China tech, I’ve been shifting my focus to smaller companies that: Are not of a size that puts them on the radar for anti-trust regulation. Will benefit from government constraints on the giants. So I’ve recently written about NetEase, the #2 player in gaming in China. Is NetEase a Buying […]
4 Reasons Why Didi and Ctrip Should Merge (Tech Strategy – Podcast 95)
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses 4 reasons why Didi and Ctrip should merge. He argues that a merger would create a more dominant player in the Chinese travel market, allow the companies to better compete with global rivals, and save money on costs. Towson believes that a merger is the best way for Didi and Ctrip to achieve their long-term goals.
Ctrip vs. Meituan: Is Covid a Tourism Buying Opportunity? (Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Lesson / Update)
I was mulling over investing in Expedia during the beginning of the pandemic. It made sense that travel would take a hit for a couple of years. And then it would likely come back. Plus, digital marketplaces are good at scaling up and down. But I didn’t buy as I feel more comfortable with Asia […]
3 Questions About the Challenging Future of Full Truck Alliance (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)
In Podcast 89 (Truck Alliance’s Fight for Complicated Network Effects), I laid out some of the basic information about the company – and why it is a “next level” marketplace. If selling books was simple ecommerce and selling groceries was advanced, then Didi is simple mobility and Truck Alliance is advanced. It’s just a much […]