I recently wrote about Baidu as an example of learning platforms (one of my five platform types). Located here, I said: “My definition for learning platforms has 4 key points: The primary purpose of the platform is to enable interactions between user groups within a greater ecosystem. It is, first and foremost, a platform business […]
In Part 1 and Part 2, I laid out Baidu’s core search engine and some of the complexities that have evolved in search over time. I have three strategy questions for Baidu going forward: How competitive will a stand-alone search engine be against China’s larger digital giants over time? Can Baidu create a second large […]
In Part 1, I laid out some basic theory for Baidu and search engines. I think it was a pretty solid picture for Baidu circa 2010. But strange things have been happening since then. Baidu has moved into entertainment, services (for a while), content creation and self-driving cars. I’m not sure if these were […]
In Part 1, I laid out some basic theory for Baidu and search engines. I think it was a pretty solid picture for Baidu circa 2010. But strange things have been happening since then. Baidu has moved into entertainment, services (for a while), content creation and self-driving cars. I’m not sure if these were strategic […]
I like search engines. But they are very strange animals. They remind me of giraffes and ant eaters. Unique animals that you can’t really compare to anything else. But their competitive strength is really impressive. For example: Google Search is dominant globally, with +85% of the market. Bing and Yahoo are 2nd and 3rd globally, […]
In November 2020, beauty unicorn Perfect Diary went public in the USA after 4 years of stunning growth. Founded in 2016, the company rose to become the #1 (or #2) make-up brand online in China. And they did it mostly by growth hacking the major ecommerce and social media platforms of China. I thought Perfect […]
Fiverr is an Israeli company, so not an Asia tech company per se. But it has a lot of freelancers in developing Asia. And it has a particularly compelling marketplace strategy. So I thought it was worth covering. First, a bit of background. Fiverr is a typical marketplace platform for services. But for B2B, not […]
I like the saying that winning in digital B2C is like catching lightning in a bottle. But winning in digital B2B is more like mining. The former happens really fast but is difficult to predict. The latter is slower but pretty reliable when you’re in the right spot. You just keep digging away over time. […]
Baidu-controlled iQiyi (IQ) is one of the big leaders in video in China. And video is the most popular online activity in China’s massive market. That’s good. iQiyi also has powerful competitive advantages, similar to YouTube and Netflix combined. Overall, there is a lot to like about this company strategically. Its primary competitors Tudou and […]
Huawei is “all in” on building a third mobile operating system and ecosystem. This is the first major challenge to the Android-Apple iOS duopoly in almost a decade. And as iOS is a closed system, it is really about Huawei taking on globally dominant, open source Android. It’s a big deal. I recently spoke with […]