In Part 1, I described JD Logistics (JDL) as being three things. A unique capability that parent JD can leverage in its retail and marketplace businesses. Note: This is basically the same playbook as Coupang and Amazon. A service business that does “integrated logistics”. A logistics network that may become an operating system or ecosystem. […]
I have been thinking about JD’s logistics operations for like 4 years. I visited a couple of their warehouses. I toured their robotics laboratory. And I am always looking for their cool logistics videos (see here). But it’s hard to see the whole system. Most logistics is behind the scenes. But JD Logistics has just […]
I have been thinking about JD’s logistics operations for like 4 years. I visited a couple of their warehouses. I toured their robotics laboratory. And I am always looking for their cool logistics videos (see here or below). But it’s hard to see the whole system. Most logistics is behind the scenes. But JD Logistics […]
The latest big tech IPO out of Asia is Coupang, a likely $50B listing called the “Amazon of South Korea”. More on that annoying phrase in a moment. But first, let’s take a moment to be thankful for being in the Asia tech space. It’s just awesome. It’s just one cool company after another. Last […]
This is Part 2 of two articles on Alibaba Investors Day. In Part 1 (Dissecting Alibaba’s 11 Growth Strategies), I wrote about their 5 growth strategies in “Domestic Consumption” (i.e., stuff Chinese consumers spend money on). But CEO Daniel Zhang also outlined 5 growth strategies for Alibaba Cloud. And their cloud business is what everyone has […]
So Alibaba Investor Day was this week. Actually it was three days. And there were lots of presentations and publications. But people generally want to hear from Maggie Wu (CFO) and Daniel Zhang (CEO). Their two presentations on the final day are a big deal. I went through everything (so you don’t have to). And […]
Online insurance company ZhongAn was the first mover in “digital meets insurance” in China. A strategy Ant Financial would later refer to in its IPO filing as “InsureTech”. And in both the ZhongAn and Ant cases, we saw: An awesome digital strategy and vision in a very big market. Limited traction after years of effort. […]
Last week, I wrote about how mindless behavior, chemistry and habits can be demand-side competitive advantages, which I put under the catch-all title of “share of the consumer mind’. It’s a Warren Buffett term and one of the concepts in the Concept Library. I described demand-side (or revenue-side) competitive advantages this way: “…competitive advantages on […]
I have talked a lot about competitive advantages on the demand side (sometimes called revenue advantages). These are structural advantages that enable premium pricing, repeat purchases, higher ROIC and / or stable marketshare over longer periods of time. For example, I have spoken a lot on the podcast about switching costs. That is really my […]
I’ve been teaching a private equity class at CEIBS in Shanghai for like 5 years. I call it private equity but it’s really about how to analyze companies and investments. Regardless of whether it is private or public. Whether the approach is active or passive. It’s basically my checklists, which are 9 questions. I’ve mentioned […]