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 […]

Jeffrey Towson – In Digital China, Re-Imagine Operations ASAP (Video)

From one of my standard talks in 2018. This is about bike-sharing and re-imaging operations. Video is 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 Ready […]

Why Ofo Failed

Yes, fail is a harsh word. But it’s true. And it happens to lots of companies, especially in China. The good news is failure in China is not final. There are always more opportunities. I’ve written a series of articles about “What To Do When You Fail in China” (here and here). And many failed […]

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). […]

There Is No New Chinese Sharing Economy (Video)

My latest video on China’s sharing economy. Shot in Thailand. Link here.   Music is: Sunburst by Tobu & Itro https://soundcloud.com/7obu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/… ———-

Can Meituan, Ctrip, or Alibaba Win Against Didi in China Ride Sharing? (Part 1 of 2)

In the last couple of months, several of China’s digital giants have jumped into ride-sharing. And this was a surprise, because with the exit of Uber it was believed that Didi Chuxing had that market pretty much locked up. And I think Didi thought this too – as they began focusing on international expansion. Generally […]