Massive Chinese Brainpower Is the Next Really Big Thing

*The following is an excerpt from the One Hour China Book, for which a 2017 version is available here.   “There is a great story about Steve Jobs freaking out about six weeks before the first iPhone was released. It was reported by The New York Times and has become part of the folklore of […]

How Tsingtao, CR Snow and the Other Beer SOEs Won Big in China (Pt 1 of 2)

The Chinese beer market looks similar to beer markets in the rest of the world – mostly regional markets mostly dominated by a few giant beer companies. But take a look at the below chart from 2013. You’ll note that China evolved with one big difference with the rest of the world: The dominating beer […]

While Luckin Fights Starbucks, HeyTea Has Lines Out the Door in China (pt 2 of 2)

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 (or financial engineering) but on product development and continually thrilling their […]

My Lessons from the 2019 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (1 of 2) (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

This year, I was struck by how much Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are focused on China. They talked about it a lot more than I expected. And they were both very positive about the country and its future.
I think this is a big deal because it shows that Berkshire Hathaway is really looking to expand its presence in China. And it also shows that Buffett and Munger are still very much in charge of the company.
Overall, I thought this year’s meeting was very interesting. There were a lot of great questions from the audience, and Buffett and Munger were both very candid in their responses.

Facebook Copying WeChat is the Ultimate Gangster Move (pt 1 of 2)

Mark Zuckerberg’s memo on “privacy-focused messaging and social networking” has some really big implications. It is focused on private messaging and the WeChat-type operating system. To me, it looks like the first move in a strategy to turn Facebook into a much larger and more powerful company. That such a big power play is dressed […]

What’s Next in New Retail? My Visit to the JD-Qumei Furniture Store in China. (2/2)

In Part 1 of my visit to the JD-Qumei furniture store in Beijing, I laid out a bit of theory about furniture retail stores. They have some nice dynamics and some limitations. And that is mostly what is happening on the second floor of the store I visited. But first…consider joining my executive education course […]

What’s Next in New Retail? My Visit to the JD-Qumei Furniture Store in China. (1/2)

In 2017-2018, “new retail” began in Chinese groceries. There was Freshippo / Hema, 7Fresh and other projects. It was a first glimpse of what new retail come become. Shortly after, convenience stores and mom-and-pop stores also began to get digital upgrades. And in a bit of a surprise, retail coffee also entered the story – […]

Get Ready for Beijing, the +100M Person Mega-City (Video)

The population of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster (also called “Jing-Jin-Ji”) will be +100M people. That’s pretty fascinating. My thoughts on where we are and what’s coming next. And a little look around Beijing. The video is below in two formats. But first…consider joining my executive education course Jeff’s Asia Tech Class for deeper insights into China’s […]