From Didi to Mobike to Luckin: How Money and Hype Are Distorting Digital China

Digital China has arrived. It has unicorns, huge market opportunities and a pervasive cultural impact. Everything is now at world-class scale. Unfortunately, the distorting impact of hot money and hype has also scaled up. And this appears to be increasing. But first…consider joining my executive education course Jeff’s Asia Tech Class for deeper insights into […]

Jeffrey Towson – Get Ready for Super Platforms in Digital China (Video)

From one of my standard talks in 2018 (since retired). This is about bike-sharing, mobility and super-apps. Video below and Youtube link is here. Part 1: What is the Engine of Chinese Bike-Sharing? Part 2: Give Consumers Exactly What They Want Part 3: In Digital China, Re-Imagine Operations ASAP Part 4: In Digital China, Get […]

The 4 Superpowers Of China’s Digital Giants (Pt 2 of 3)

In Part 1 (here), I laid out how Alibaba has evolved in China. It was for a retail marketplace, but you can see a similar pattern in many of China’s digital giants. The next phase in this evolution is “new retail”, and it is changing this pattern in a big way (coming in Part 3). […]

滴滴和网约车行业在巴西有何不同之处:我的99总部参观之行(第2部分,共3部分)

最近我参观了滴滴-99公司位于圣保罗的总部。在第1部分里,我讨论了司机需求和服务在巴西和中国有何不同之处。以下是两者之间存在的一些其他差异。

美团、阿里巴巴、滴滴、携程竞争激烈:为何中国各互联网巨头都试图在城市服务领域大显身手(第3部分,共4部分)

这是我参观美团点评北京总部后所得感想的第3部分。第1部分详述了我主要的感想。第2部分阐述了我所认为的人们对美团的错误看法。 “城市服务”是今年的热门话题。我们也看到中国的数字巨头们都在这一领域有大动作。

How Didi And Ride-Sharing Are Different in Brazil: My Visit to 99 HQ. (Pt 2 of 3)

I recently visited the Didi-99 headquarters in Sao Paolo. In Part 1, talked about how driver needs and services are an area that appears to be particularly different in Brazil vs. China. Here are some other differences. Difference with China #2: How much to localize is an important question for ride-sharing globally. Uber, unfortunately, has […]

How Didi And Ride-Sharing Are Different in Brazil: My Visit to 99 HQ. (Pt 1 of 3)

China’s digital giants are going international. Sort of. Asia is viewed as a strategic requirement by many (Alibaba, JD). So we see a lot of moves there (Alibaba acquired Lazada). Payments (Alipay) and hotel bookings (Ctrip) are following Chinese tourists abroad. So they are going pretty much everywhere. For example, Ant Financial recently tried to […]

My Favorite China Reading – October 2018

Greetings from Peking University, I am back in Beijing after China’s big holiday week. I generally try to avoid the tourist craziness that happens every year at this time. In terms of digital China, the giants just keep accelerating and surprising everyone. Lots of interesting things happening in mobility (Didi) and new retail (JD) right […]

重要的是:滴滴正迅速建立司机服务 (第2部分,共3部分)

在该系列文章的第1部分,我接触了一位滴滴司机,试图能够更好地了解滴滴司机的生活(点击此处下载文章)。在第2部分,我将探讨滴滴业务在司机和车主方面非常酷的不断创新。