The Tech Strategy Podcast

This week’s podcast is about online-merge-offline (OMO) platforms. A business model that is just emerging in China. I talk about Sun Art Retail and Beike / Lianjia as examples. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Here is the BCG article I mentioned. —– Related podcasts and articles are: Lianjia and Beike’s Big Platform Play in Chinese Real Estate (Asia...

This week’s podcast is about the current political risks around Alibaba . But also about the very important concept of Worst Case Scenario . You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Here is the Harvard Business Review case about Viva Macau . Here is the book I mentioned, Dead Companies Walking by Scott Fearon . –—– Related podcasts and articles are: My 9 In...

This week’s podcast is about how to think tactics that generate short-term growth and results. And we see these coming out of China all the time. In particular, I talk about how Pop Mart used blind boxes. How Joy Spreader and Ruhnn Holding used influencer marketing. And how everyone is using community group buying. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . H...

This week’s podcast is about Baidu and its key strategic questions: Can it thrive as a stand-alone search engine? Against competitors such as Tencent and ByteDance. What is its best growth opportunity? I think cloud. Did it need to go into content? How far? Can it compete in the attention market? Search plus feed. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Th...

This week’s podcast is about my investment checklist. Which is really just 9 questions. Shown below. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Charlie Munger’s Speech on the Psychology of Human Misjudgment. Located her e. ———– Related podcasts and articles are: N/A From the Concept Library , concepts for this article are: 9 Questions Company Quality (Ques 1...

This week’s podcast is Fiverr and their classic approach to building a marketplace platform (for freelance services). I don't go into it too much but I thought it was a good example of a common playbook for venture capital-backed early stage companies. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Andreesen Horowitz listed 4 types of competitive advantages:...

This week’s podcast is about Huawei’s big operating system initiative. It’s the first serious challenge to Android’s global dominance. And how to break-in with a new ecosystem is a fascinating question. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Types of platforms: Marketplace Platforms Payment Platforms Innovation and Audience-Builder Platforms Coordination,...

This week’s podcast is about JD Central in Thailand. I had an interesting visit and interviewed the CEO. And it raises a bigger point of whether China's ecommerce giants can or will go international? You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . The McKinsey & Co article I mentioned is here . Related podcasts and articles are: My Interview with JD Centr...

This week’s podcast is about JD Logistics. It's an interesting case of a capability becoming a service business. And maybe a new type of ecosystem. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Related podcasts and articles are: Introduction to Innovation, Elon Musk and Android’s Dominant Design. (Jeff’s Asia Tech Class – Podcast 58) Alibaba, Android and Th...

This week’s podcast is about the Coupang of South Korea. An interesting case of local dominance (geographic) based initially on competitive advantages on the cost side. But potentially also on the demand side. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . The advantages for Coupang I mentioned are: Production Cost Advantage: Location or Transportation Cost Advan...

This week’s podcast is about revenue scale and operating leverage in traditional companies vs. software vs. AI. And these things can be really different. Especially software vs. AI. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Here are the three factors I mentioned that interact for operating leverage: Revenue Operating profits Economic value creation (i.e., vs...

This week’s podcast is about Roblox and the question of whether this media type will really take off. And I argue this is an interesting evolution of the audience-builder platform. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Here is the article I mentioned: ByteDance vs. Kuaishou: Innovator vs. Fast Follower Strategies for the China Attention Market (Asia Tech...

This week’s podcast is about network effects. And I argue they are actually three effects at the same time. Plus some stuff about So-Young's marketplace for services. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . The 3-4 types of effects with network effects are: Competitive Advantage Barrier to Entry Other Competitive Advantages such as switching costs. Fl...

This week’s podcast is about some of the bigger strategic initiatives at WeChat. Specifically mini programs, search, mini games and WeChat Work. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Related podcasts and articles are: WeChat, TikTok and Capturing the Consumer Mind in a Digital Age (Jeff’s Asia Tech Class – Podcast 36) WeChat Work and Why Enterprise Tools...

This week’s podcast is my third on the well-known 7 Powers framework by Hamilton Helmer. I go through the last 4 of his 7 powers. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . His fundamental equation of value is: Value = M0*g*s*m = market scale * power M0 is Market at time zero. g is growth. This is about targeting big and growing market opportunities. S is lon...

This week’s podcast is more on the well-known 7 Powers framework by Hamilton Helmer. I go through three of his 7 powers. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . His fundamental equation of value is: Value = M0*g*s*m = market scale * power M0 is Market at time zero. g is growth. This is about targeting big and growing market opportunities. S is long-term pe...

This week’s podcast is on the well-known 5 Forces framework by Michael Porter. I go through some of its limitations and where I think it works best. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Michael Porter's 5 Forces: Bargaining power of suppliers Bargaining power of buyers Threat of Substitutes Barriers to entry / threat of potential entrants Degree of...

This week’s podcast is on the well-known 7 Powers framework by Hamilton Helmer. I go through some of its limitations and where I think it works best. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Hamilton Helmer's fundamental equation for value creation and capture Value = M0*g*s*m = market scale * power M0 is market size at time zero. This is about targeti...

This week’s podcast is on Ant Financial vs. Square. And has an introduction to the inside vs. outside view and base rates. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Key question: What will drive Square's growth? Metrics for base rates: Sales growth Gross profitability (gross profits / assets) Operating leverage. Change in operating profits relative to c...

Tesla vs. Nio and why first mover advantage is not as awesome as everyone thinks. At least not in tech. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Advantages of first mover in tech can include: Bigger advantages: Temporary supply-demand imbalance Increasing returns to scale Switching costs Network effects Learning effects Smaller advantages: Brand loyalty Tec...

This week’s podcast is on Airbnb and what I think people are getting wrong about its business model and future in Asia. Which has some impact on how you would value it going forward. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . The mentioned presentation by NYU Professor Damodaran is here . The mentioned factors for Airbnb were: Market size and / or growth Comp...

This week’s podcast is on innovation, which often is discussed in fuzzy terms. I present some of the better language used to discuss this topic. And I present some frameworks from McKinsey and Professor Melissa Schilling (NYU). You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . The slides mentioned are below. Related podcasts and articles: Forget the “Alibaba Ecosyst...

This week’s podcast is more about the fuzzy idea of ecosystems, which I call the new collaboration-based business business models . We have clear frameworks for pipelines and platforms. And linked business models and complementary platforms. I summarize some of the thinking by Peter Williamson, Michael Jacobides and BCG's article The Emerging Art of Ecosystem Management . You can listen to th...

Correction: I had Michael Jacobides' name incorrect throughout this episode. My apologies. Podcasting while sick may not have been my best idea. This week's podcast is about starting to take apart the fuzzy idea of ecosystems. We have clear frameworks for pipelines and platforms. And linkedin business models and complemntary platforms. But the ecosystem term is better thought of as colla...

This podcast is more about the strange but important economics of digital. And on how digital economics can impact well-established competitive advantages like economies of scale. This is a continuation of Podcast 53. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes , Google Podcasts and Himalaya . Related podcasts and articles: Review: The Sexy But Dangerous Economics of Digital (Jeff’s Asia Tech...