This week’s podcast is about the arrival of ChatGPT, which is stunning people everywhere with its content generation. You can listen to this podcast here, …Read More »

I’ve been looking a lot at Microsoft. It’s a really compelling digital business model. Like stunningly powerful. But it’s pretty confusing. Microsoft has an endless …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Elon Musk’s take-over and turn-around of Twitter. Lots of cool lessons in what he has done in the first 3 …Read More »

In Part 1, I argued that Twitter 1.0 is about supercharging operating performance. That’s what I expect to happen in the 6 months. And it …Read More »

Elon Musk had an all hands meeting and Q&A at Twitter this week. It was in the Verge. That transcript, plus his frequent comments on …Read More »

This week’s podcast is Production and Consumption Ecosystems as digital business models. This thinking is mostly by Professor Mohan Subramaniam, who wrote the book The Future …Read More »

In Part 1, I summarized my list of digital business model types. For Web2: Linear business models (i.e., pipelines) Production Ecosystems Consumption Ecosystems Company Ecosystems …Read More »

I have described digital business models as either pipelines or platforms. That’ s a standard distinction. In a pipeline, a firm creates value with a …Read More »

This week’s podcast is Grab’s growth initiatives, which are critical for getting to operating profits. They also provide a case for talking about core vs. …Read More »

Grab recently held its 2002 Investor Day. They summarized their 1H results for 2022 and went through their current strategy, which is mostly about getting …Read More »

Newly public Grab has recently had an investors day (September 2022), with lots of presentations by CEO Anthony Tan, COO Alex Hungate and others. It …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about economies of scale in purchasing power. I go through Walmart and Costco as traditional examples. And point to JD, Apple, …Read More »

Why do humans live in cities? And why does the urbanization rate of most countries keep increasing? Because there are lots of efficiencies when you …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about cloud business models. It’s a complicated and evolving subject. But I am trying to identify good cloud business models that …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Magazine Luiza / Magalu and how they ended up as the pioneer of online-merge-offline (OMO) in Brazil retail. They have …Read More »

I recently visited the Magazine Luiza / Magalu headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil. And this company should be on your radar. Magalu is definitely out …Read More »

I keep an eye on the larger moves by Alibaba. Not the constant stream of announcements and endless initiatives but the larger strategic moves that …Read More »

I was in Kenya last month and got a chance to play with Jumia and Jumia Food, the big ecommerce apps in most of the …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about AB InBev’s rapidly rising beverage delivery service Ze Delivery. I visited the facilities and spoke with CEO Rudolfo Chung. It’s …Read More »

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 …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about important digital changes happening in ecommerce and retail, and that are mostly coming out of China / Asia. You can …Read More »

I wrote about Alibaba’s 5 growth strategies under “Domestic Consumption”. But CEO Daniel Zhang has also outlined 5 growth strategies for Alibaba Cloud. And their …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Steam and Garena, which are good examples of successful specialty gaming business models. These are niche businesses that have thrived …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about digital content businesses, which are entirely digital economics. They can have great economics but absolutely need a moat. You can …Read More »

There was an interesting article in Insead Knowledge (Jason Davis and Vikas Aggarwal) about how innovation gets copied by imitators. I liked the question it …Read More »

In 2019, Mark Zuckerberg released a memo on “privacy-focused messaging and social networking” – and charted a new direction for Facebook. In theory, the memo …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about economies of scale – and why it is still the standard strategy. Especially in specialized areas and niche markets. You …Read More »

One of my favorite articles about platform strategy is a 2020 article by the Boston Consulting Group. It was a really solid investigation of an …Read More »

Economies of scale as a phenomenon goes back to Adam Smith, so it is, unsurprisingly, often described in industrial terms. It is the phenomenon where …Read More »

I’ve been arguing that digital strategy is mostly about developing expertise in 4 areas. Digital economics Platform business models AI and machine learning Blockchain Each …Read More »

CA9: Scarce or Cornered Resources is a rare and quirky type of competitive advantages. It is a cost and supply advantage. You can see it …Read More »

I’ve written a lot about Ant Financial because I think it is a cool example of a zero-human operation. It’s has been built from as …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about the human capital part of the digital operating basics. Specifically, DOB5: Leadership and management and DOB6: People, Culture and Teams. …Read More »

In Part 1, I went through two strategy concepts for web3. Protocol Networks (i.e., Blockchains) with Property Rights Composability (i.e., Building Blocks) at Global Scale …Read More »

Everyone describes their initial look at blockchain and web3 as “going down the rabbit hole”. It starts simply with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Then they go …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about web3 strategy and business models. It’s a big confusing and still evolving space. But I think there are 5 really important …Read More »

I often get asked how JD competes with Alibaba (in ecommerce). Who is going to win? My answer is below. But first a little theory …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Walgreens and Ping An Good Doctor. Both are using digital tools to create entirely new business models in healthcare. And …Read More »

Virality, viral loops, incentives and digital word of mouth all get sort of mixed together. They are all growth mechanisms for digital businesses. And they …Read More »

I’ve been thinking about Luckin Coffee, which was a big story a few years ago in China. It was a digital upstart taking on giant …Read More »

Think about the value proposition of a Walmart superstore. Most everything a customer needs is in the store and easy to find. Yes, Walmart is …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about rate of learning as a concept. That is the digital version of what was originally called the learning curve and …Read More »

For those of you reading Moats and Marathons, I have been slowly laying out the key competitive advantages for digital businesses. And this is really …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Xiaomi and ongoing strategy changes and moves. This is a good case for my 6 levels of digital competition. It …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Alipay+, which is Ant’s new international payment initiative. But it is also about the return of Ant Group after 2 …Read More »

A few years ago, I wrote about how Alibaba.com was launching an ambitious global platform strategy around B2B cross-border transactions. Alibaba.com was attempting to build …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about GE and their big digital transformation initiative from 2011-2018. However, I am not a GE expert by any stretch. I …Read More »

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 …Read More »

We are a couple of years into the epic (pun intended) fight between Apple and Epic Games over the App Store. This is really the …Read More »

I’ve mentioned externalizing capabilities as a strategic move many times. I thought I would detail that out. It’s common strategy in digital business models. And …Read More »

I’ve talked a lot about why KOLs and influencers are so important in a connected world. Live streaming and short video are currently the big …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about Elon Musk’s attempted purchase of Twitter. But it is really about how the control and curation of information flows how …Read More »

In Parts 1 and 2, I wrote about how digital infrastructure is being developed in Thailand, which is a good proxy for digital infrastructure SE …Read More »

In Part 1 and a podcast, I covered the history of Huawei in Thailand and my interview with Huawei Thailand CEO Abel Deng. In this part, …Read More »

This week’s podcast is about digital disruption. It’s a big and difficult topic for management teams. And it usually leads to discussion about innovation. Here …Read More »

Use cases are a good way to approach the subject of AI. Just hunt industry by industry and see what companies are using AI for …Read More »

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 is now public. This was after years of setback after setback, including being placed on the US Treasury Department’s list …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 »