In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses the return of Ant Group after 2 years in restructuring. He talks about Ant’s new international payment initiative, Alipay+, and how it could disrupt the global payments market. He also discusses the challenges that Ant faces in its new incarnation, such as regulatory scrutiny and competition from other tech giants.
I had a good interview with Arthur du Passage and Edouard de Mezerac of Artefact, a data consulting and digital marketing company. And I thought they had a really good vantage point for how AI / ML is being used on the ground in China. I’ve summarized my 3 take-aways from our discussion. An Introduction […]
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses why General Electric (GE) failed in its digital transformation efforts. He talks about the company’s history of innovation and how it lost its way in the digital age. He also discusses the lessons that other companies can learn from GE’s mistakes.
A few years ago, I wrote about how Alibaba.com was launching an ambitious global strategy around B2B cross-border transactions and solutions. It was a sweeping vision. Basically, they were creating digital tools and services that enabled SMEs to buy and sell products and supplies like multi-nationals. It was super cool as an idea. And this […]
In Part 1, I argued that Starbucks China most interesting competitor is not Luckin Coffee. It is HeyTea, an upscale Starbucks-type business focused on tea (something Chinese consumers really, really like). And to their credit, HeyTea appears to be mostly focusing not on digital innovation but on product development and continually thrilling their customers. Which […]
China / Asia is usually the most dynamic frontier for retail – and especially when it integrates with ecommerce. This is the result of a really big market and never-ending hyper-competition. It means there is always frantic innovating just to stay in the game. It’s a space I generally avoid because of the degree of […]
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses Elon Musk’s attempt to purchase Twitter and his plans for the company. He talks about Musk’s vision for Twitter as a platform for free speech and how he plans to make it more open and transparent. He also discusses the challenges that Musk faces in his attempt to transform Twitter, such as the company’s culture and its financial situation.
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses two frameworks for predicting tech disruption. The first framework is based on the impact of technology on six levels: customer, industry, company, function, process, and technology. The second framework is based on the probability of management being able to pull off a disruptive strategy.
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses how Amazon’s moat in ecommerce is growing, while its moat in video is falling. He compares Amazon’s video business to Netflix and argues that Amazon will need to make some changes in order to maintain its leadership position.
Amazon can learn a lot from Alibaba and Pinduoduo in terms of how to improve its consumer experience. Alibaba has integrated its ecommerce products with entertainment, payment, credit, and wealth management products, while Pinduoduo has focused on social commerce and group buying. Amazon could benefit from adopting some of these strategies in order to stay ahead of the competition.