Will Farfetch or Secoo Win in Luxury Ecommerce in China? (Tech Strategy – Podcast 38)

In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses the competitive landscape between Farfetch and Secoo in the luxury e-commerce market in China. He argues that Farfetch has the global reach and brand recognition, while Secoo has the strong local presence and relationships with luxury brands. Towson believes that the winner of this race will depend on which company can execute its strategy better and adapt to the ever-changing Chinese market.

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.

Huawei, Luckin and the SMILE Marathon (Tech Strategy – Podcast 34)

In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses how Huawei and Luckin Coffee are using digital technology to create a sustainable competitive advantage. He argues that these companies are winning the “SMILE Marathon” by competing on scale, scope, efficiency, and effectiveness. Towson provides examples of how Huawei and Luckin Coffee are using digital technology to improve their operations, and he discusses the implications for businesses of all sizes.

3 Ways AI Is Transforming Fashion: My Interview with JD Vice President of Cloud and AI (Tech Strategy – Podcast 33)

In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson interviews the Vice President of Cloud & AI at JD.com about how AI is transforming the fashion industry. They discuss three key areas where AI is having an impact: personalization, supply chain management, and product development. For example, AI can be used to recommend products to customers based on their past purchases, track inventory levels and optimize shipping routes, and design new products that are more likely to appeal to consumers.

How Ant Financial / Alipay is Building an AI Factory in Financial Services (pt 2 of 2)

In Part 1 (From Big, Dumb Bureaucracies to Zero-Human Operations (pt 1 of 2), I made the following argument: In the industrial age, enterprises were built on the advantages of scale. Companies went from workshops and small factories to big factories capable of mass production. Superior scale gave companies multiple advantages, including cost efficiencies and […]

From Big, Dumb Bureaucracies to Zero-Human Operations: The Holy Grail of the Digital Age (pt 1 of 2)

There was a good paper recently published by Martin Reeves and Raj Varadajaran of the Boston Consulting Group. The paper (When Resilience Is More Important Than Efficiency) touched on a lot of issues related to digital competition – but there was one chart that I thought really hit at the center of a lot of […]