TikTok, WeChat and the Need for an American Vision for Shaping Digital Information Flows.

A few years ago, I went to the WeChat Open Talk meeting in Guangzhou and founder Allen Zhang (see photo) gave a talk that really stuck with me. He talked about about the powerful role of information flows in society and life. And how the digitization of these information flows has created a situation where […]

More of the 10 Alibaba Slides and How “New Retail” Supercharges Platform Strategy (2 of 2) (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

In Part 1, I laid out the basics of building a single platform business model. Or what BCG calls a “hyperscaler”. That is about getting the initial platform interactions going and going for growth, which is where the value is created.  However, once the basic demand and supply picture are in place, you start thinking […]

8 Lessons From China AI Guru Kai-Fu Lee (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

Key concepts for this article: Artificial Intelligence China’s State Capitalism model *** The release of ChatGPT and DALL-E has pushed AI back to the forefront of digital. Forget web3 and blockchain. It’s all about AI now. And I will confess, I am a believer. Artificial intelligence is the biggest thing happening in digital. I’m even […]

Alibaba, JD, and Secoo Are Still Struggling to Do Luxury / Fashion Ecommerce

In 2022, luxury e-commerce platform Secoo Holding Ltd filed for bankruptcy in Beijing. After 14 years of operations, this was a disappointing end to the largest luxury marketplace in the world’s largest luxury market. The company (founded by Li Rixue in 2008) grew out of a second-hand handbag shop. It went digital and found itself […]

Unveiling Baidu: How China’s Top Search Engine Thrives as a Learning Platform (1 of 3) (Tech Strategy – Daily Update)

Baidu, China’s leading search engine, is a “learning platform” that becomes smarter with increased user activity. Founded by Robin Li in 2000, it was designed to cater to search users, webpages, and advertisers. Baidu, like other learning platforms, can serve both human and digital agents, enhancing their service based on the overall and individual user activity.

The Rise of Alibaba in 10 Slides (1 of 2) (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

Years ago, I started mapping out the evolution of Alibaba with pictures. I was having a hard time keeping all the moving parts in mind. And I was becoming more and more convinced that digital company development is path dependent. What comes next depends on what just happened. Microsoft is only capable of its current […]

Alibaba’s 11 Growth Strategies (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

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 I think will change the trajectory of the company. This usually means talking with management when I can and following the investor days. A couple of years ago, Maggie Wu […]

Jeff’s 7 Digital Superpowers (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

I have been giving you lots of frameworks and concepts. And after a while, it can all get kind of confusing. Is this new software critical for my business? Is this new business model going to seriously impact our industry? Is this like Amazon completely disrupting retail? Is this more like Mobike, which was nice […]