I have one B2C “super chart”. It’s a bit ridiculous but stick with me. I think it is actually a good prediction of the future …Read More »

In Part 1, I argued that Amazon’s ecommerce business was getting stronger over time (in terms of competitive strength). It has an impressive series of …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Amazon’s competitive advantages. We can see clearly growing moats in ecommerce. But increasing competition is revealing the lack of defenses …Read More »

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 …Read More »

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 …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Amazon vs. Alibaba and Pinduoduo. There are some important strategy differences between the ecommerce leaders of the US and China. …Read More »

I break competitive advantages into those on the demand-side and those on the cost / supply-side. Plus government-granted advantages. It results in a list of …Read More »

In Part 1, I laid out some basic theory about marketplace platforms for services, which is a fascinating interesting subject. And it is much more …Read More »

This week’s podcast is newly public GoTo, which is an interesting business model combining a platform for products (Tokopedia) with one for services (Gojek). You …Read More »

The recently merged Gojek and Tokopedia (i.e., GoTo) has gone public in Indonesia. And I finally got a look at their filings (thanks to a …Read More »

A quick recap. I have broken moats (i.e., structural advantages) into three levels. I wrote some recent articles on Barriers to Entry and Soft Advantages: …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about combining two previously covered topics: growth and the digital operating basics. This can be surprisingly powerful. You can listen to …Read More »

In Part 1, I went through the basics of newly public Grab. It’s one of the first tech unicorns of Southeast and it’s an interesting …Read More »

Huawei has just announced its 2021 financial results, with the title “Solid Operations, Investing in the Future”. That is actually a pretty good summary of …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Southeast Asian tech giant Grab, its impressive execution and its chronic unprofitability: You can listen to this podcast here or …Read More »

Southeast Asia unicorn Grab is now public via a SPAC merger with Altimeter Growth Corp. The company trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol …Read More »

In the past 3-4 months, Sea Limited stock price has fallen from $350 to $90 per share. That is interesting. The business model is as …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about how web 3.0 is creating three types of marketplaces: Digital platforms (web 2.0), such as a Taobao Platform-protocol hybrids, such …Read More »

In Part 1, I did a quick summary of the strange mix of ideas that is “web 3.0”. Blockchain, a new technology paradigm. Decentralization, which moves …Read More »

There is a lot of talk about how web 3.0, which is about protocol networks, is going to disrupt web 2.0, which is about platform …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about customer capture as a competitive advantage. And how digital is really changing this type of moat. You can listen to …Read More »

Traditionally, revenue and demand-side advantages are described as “customer captivity”. It shows up as a company that gets higher pricing and/or more repeat purchases from …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Nike in China. But it really about how you win as a participant in large platform businesses in ecommerce and …Read More »

In Part 1 and Part 2, I laid out my approach to web 3.0 business models. These are sometimes called “decentralized platforms”. Or “protocols”. I …Read More »

Digital economics are just very strange. As soon as a service or business becomes infused with software and data technology, the economics start to change …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about web 3.0. I view most successful web 3.0 companies like Coinbase as platform-protocol hybrids. You can listen to this podcast …Read More »

In Part 1, I did a quick summary of the strange mix of ideas that is “web 3.0”. Blockchain, a new technology paradigm that will …Read More »

Right now, the venture capital types are all talking about “web 3.0”. Very big names are arguing that this is the big new tech paradigm. …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Nubank, Brazil’s rapidly rising digital bank. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is my …Read More »

In Part 1, I went through the basics of Nubank, which is building a digital bank in Latin America. And you can make an analogy …Read More »

A few months ago, I wrote about Stone Co, which is one of the new digital natives rising in Latin America. My thinking on Stone …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Barriers to Entry, which is one of my 6 levels of competition. You can listen to this podcast here or …Read More »

In Part 1, I detailed some of the basics of SenseTime, China’s leading computer vision company. I argued it was basically a linear business model, …Read More »

In Part 1, I discussed Snowflake and its compelling business model for a “data ecosystem”. I argued it was a collaboration (CCS) platform based on …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about SenseTime, which is a leader in computer vision in China / Asia. It’s a fascinating company for looking at the …Read More »

In Part 1, I detailed some of the basics of SenseTime, China’s leading computer vision company. And I argued it was basically a linear business …Read More »

Chinese computer vision company SenseTime has finally gone public. This was after years of setback after setback, including being placed on the US Treasury Department’s …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about my discussion with Abel Deng, the CEO of Huawei Thailand. And about how the next generation of digital infrastructure is …Read More »

Last week, I went to the Huawei headquarters in Bangkok and interviewed Thailand CEO Abel Deng. It was a fascinating discussion and it really got …Read More »

I have broken moats and structural advantages into three levels: Competitive Fortresses. This is the highest level and quite rare. The symbol I use is …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Snowflake and Confluent. But the main topic is how to think about coordination, collaboration and standardization (CCS) platform business models. …Read More »

I recently wrote quite a bit about Snowflake – and their strategy for building a “data ecosystem”. It’s a big idea and my explanation was …Read More »

In Part 1, I laid out how to think about physical networks. For logistics, that means lots of warehouses and trucks doing various routes between …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about the external view and the importance of base rates. Berkshire-invested Kroger supermarkets is a good example of a company that …Read More »

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 …Read More »

Logistics in China / Asia has been on my short list for a long time. There is a lot to like about this space. Logistics …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about ANE Logistics, which is a compelling business model for digitizing and consolidating less than truckload logistics in China. You can …Read More »

So much of the discussion about enterprise software and services is about the giants who dominate. Think Microsoft, Salesforce, etc. But what about the smaller, …Read More »

In Part 2, I laid out the story of Stone Company, a Brazilian digital native that is building out payment, financial and enterprise services for …Read More »

This week’s podcast is Brazilian Stone Company (STNE), the Berkshire Hathaway-invested payment platform that has fallen in share price by +80%. You can listen to …Read More »

Stone Co is a Brazilian company that is attempting to build a payment and financial services suite for merchants in +5,000 cities. And they are …Read More »

Stone Company in Brazil is a really interesting contrast to Ant Financial in China. And to Square in the USA. All three companies are somewhat …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about how to assess specialty companies within enterprise software and services. And about Tuya, which an interesting example of a specialty …Read More »

This is the big hole in everything I have laid out over the past +700 articles and +100 podcasts. How do you identify cultures and …Read More »

B2B and enterprise software / services is a big, new frontier in digital China / Asia. It is far behind the West but it’s an …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Alibaba and Singles’ Day. Just my thoughts on what really matters. You can listen to this podcast here or at …Read More »

In Part 1, I made a distinction between the development of cloud and enterprise software. There is a sweeping new cloud architecture emerging at the same …Read More »

In the past months, I’ve been looking at companies are on the enterprise and cloud side.  As opposed to the B2C side, which is where …Read More »

This week’s podcast is more about Snowflake, the “data ecosystem” company. And how multiple companies are competing to create the standards and architecture for cloud …Read More »

A subscriber suggested I look at Russian ecommerce company Ozon Holdings (OZON). It’s outside of Asia Tech Strategy, but I thought it was an interesting …Read More »

As many of you know, my focus / obsession is on how to measure the competitive strength and defensibility of digital businesses. I want to …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Snowflake, the “data ecosystem” company. It is one of the most compelling digital business models out there. It is one …Read More »

My writing is mostly on business models and digital strategy. As these are can give you insight into value creation over the longer-term. It’s really …Read More »

In Part 1 and Part 2, I laid out a framework for Snowflake’s “data ecosystem” business model. I described it as +3 complementary platform business …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about core vs. adjacency growth. This is a good framework for thinking about growth in digital businesses’. You can listen to …Read More »

In Part 1, I laid out the basics for Snowflake, a “data ecosystem” or “data warehouse as a service” company. The company appears to have …Read More »

In late 2020, it was revealed that Berkshire Hathaway had an investment in newly public Snowflake, the “data warehouse as a service” company. That was …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about how digital impacts society, business, news and politics. And how centralized planning might be the best solution in a digital …Read More »

I’ve covered three topics that relate to digital valuation: DCF Discount rates and Cost of Capital Growth, ROIC / RONIC and value Plus I did …Read More »

I’ve covered three topics that relate to digital valuation: DCF Discount rates Growth, ROIC / RONIC and value However, I have made one big assumption …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about growth and how it relates to value and valuation. ROIC vs. RONIC is an important part of separating past and …Read More »

This is my third article on digital valuation. In Part 1, I talked about DCF – and where it works and where it doesn’t. In …Read More »

In podcast 101 (Why DCF Sucks for Digital Valuation), I went through how I use DCF for digital valuation. And I basically argued that much …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about how to apply DCF in valuations of digital companies. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts. …Read More »

I have been expanding from digital strategy to digital valuation as a topic. I recently summarized (briefly) how I do valuation long hand (i.e., pen …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Hillhouse Capital and how they are buying and digitizing Chinese and increasingly Asian companies. I talk about their deals with …Read More »

Chinese recruiting company Kanzhun has gone public on the Nasdaq. It runs a pretty interesting recruiting platform called Boss Zhipin. An Introduction to Boss Zhipin …Read More »

This week’s podcast is my second on Ram Charan’s new book “Rethinking Competition Advantage“. I think it has a lot of great insights about the …Read More »

I’ve been trying to get a handle on the growth and development of cloud in China. But the four companies that account for about 80% …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Ram Charan’s new book “Rethinking Competition Advantage“. I think it has a lot of great insights about the basics of …Read More »

Pinduoduo (PDD) has really stood out in digital – both for its ability to break into a market dominated by Alibaba and JD and for …Read More »

I first went through the financials of Bilibili in 2018, shortly after it went public. It was a very interesting company because of its rapidly …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about assessing specialty ecommerce companies (i.e,. the anteaters) vs. the ecommerce giants (i.e,. the lions). Which will survive? Which will thrive? …Read More »

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 …Read More »

I have been re-assessing my focus in China tech. The tech giants are now, likely perpetually, on the government’s radar. That will likely create more …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about the recent political issues around China tech and Alibaba in particular. You can listen to this podcast here or at …Read More »

Grab, Gojek and especially Shopee are really getting international attention now. As I’m writing this, Sea Ltd is at +$125B market capitalization. SE Asia has …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Ctrip, Didi and their current situation as subscale services marketplaces in China. You can listen to this podcast here or …Read More »

I have mentioned a few times on the podcast that I use a one page sheet to do an initial estimate for valuation. I got …Read More »

Legendary emerging markets investor Mark Mobius commented that the China “crackdown” on big tech is likely going to help some smaller digital companies. Those that …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about how to profit from political involvement in China tech. But really it is about how to think systematically about the …Read More »

In my latest podcast, I teed up the idea that the State is not just a source of risk or uncertainty in China. It can …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about how to profit from political involvement in China tech. But really it is about how to think systematically about the …Read More »

There are a lot of interesting ecommerce plays at the intersection of food and on-demand services. Meituan, GoJek, Grab and Dingdong to name a few. …Read More »

I did a podcast about how to assess the political risk of China tech. But really, I was talking about the Role of the State …Read More »

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 …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about political risk in China tech, but really it is about how to think systematically about the role of the State. …Read More »

There is a lot of political uncertainty around China tech stocks these days. But this is not anything new. China and other rapidly developing economies …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Warren Buffett and combining competitive advantage with compounding. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. Here are …Read More »

I recently wrote about Shein and how they are increasing on rate of learning (plus low prices). That article is here. And I characterized their …Read More »