This week’s podcast is about Walgreens and Ping An Good Doctor . Both are using digital tools to create entirely new business models in healthcare. And both look like they have real strengths, if successful. I also mention CVS health. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . —–– Related articles: Why I Really Like Amazon’s Strategy, Despite the Crap Consumer Experience (US-Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Article) 3 Big Questions for GoTo (Gojek + Tokopedia) Going Forward...
Jul 18, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 132
This week’s podcast is about rate of learning as a concept. That is the digital version of what was originally called the learning curve and the experience effect. Rate of learning has gone from an important idea in production-intensive products to a digital requirement. But the key question is when does rate of learning become a competitive advantage ? This podcast is my answer. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . —–-- Related articles: Why I Really Like Amazo...
Jul 07, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 131
This week’s podcast is about Xiaomi and ongoing strategy changes and moves. This is a good case for my 6 levels of digital competition. It takes apart the situation fairly effectively. And Apple and Amazon provide good counter-examples. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . —– Related articles: Why I Really Like Amazon’s Strategy, Despite the Crap Consumer Experience (US-Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Article) 3 Big Questions for GoTo (Gojek + Tokopedia) Going Forwar...
Jun 29, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 130
This week’s podcast is about Alipay+, which is Ant's new international payment initiative. But it is also about the return of Ant Group after 2 years in restructuring. I call that Ant 2.0. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . ——– Related articles: Ant Financial Is 3 Platform Business Models Combined. (Jeff’s Asia Tech Class – Daily Lesson / Update) Ant Financial’s Big Money is in Asset-Light Credit Tech (Jeff’s Asia Tech Class – Daily Lesson / Update) From the C...
Jun 21, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 129
This week’s podcast is about GE and their big digital transformation initiative from 2011-2018. However, I am not a GE expert by any stretch. I am just presenting a very simplified version of their digital initiatives (from case studies) for a discussion about digital transformation. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here's my playbook for the digital transformation of an incumbent. 70% Digital Operating Basics 25% Moats 5% Tactics ——– Related articles: Why I...
Jun 12, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 128
This week’s podcast is about Elon Musk's attempted purchase of Twitter. But it is really about how the control and curation of information flows how become a key issue in the digital age. The lack of effective curation at scale has become a major problem in society. Elon Musk may be the person to finally fix this. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . ——-- Related articles: Why I Really Like Amazon’s Strategy, Despite the Crap Consumer Experience (US-Asia Tech St...
Jun 03, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 127
This week’s podcast is about digital disruption. It's a big and difficult topic for management teams. And it usually leads to discussion about innovation. Here are 2-3 frameworks for how to think about it. Correction: I said Daily Mail in the podcast. I meant Daily Journal. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Andreesen-Horowitz's 4 Stages of Disruption Disruption of incumbent Rapid and linear evolution Appealing convergence Complete reimagination My standard di...
May 24, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 126
This week’s podcast is about Amazon's competitive advantages. We can see clearly growing moats in ecommerce. But increasing competition is revealing the lack of defenses in video streaming. Netflix has the same problem. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . The mentioned graphics are here . —— Related articles: Why I Really Like Amazon’s Strategy, Despite the Crap Consumer Experience (US-Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Article) 3 Big Questions for GoTo (Gojek + Tokope...
May 07, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 125
This week’s podcast is about Amazon vs. Alibaba and Pinduoduo. There are some important strategy differences between the ecommerce leaders in the US and China. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . —— Related articles: 3 Big Questions for GoTo (Gojek + Tokopedia) Going Forward (2 of 2)(Winning Tech Strategy – Daily Article) GoTo Is Going for an “Ultimate B2C Marketplace” in Indonesia. But Alibaba Couldn’t Do It in China. (1 of 2)(Winning Tech Strategy – Daily Art...
Apr 22, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 124
This week’s podcast is newly public GoTo, which is an interesting business model combining a platform for products (Tokopedia) with one for services (Gojek). You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . —---- Related articles: Will Southeast Asian Grab Become Meituan or Didi? (Asia Tech Strategy – Podcast 121) Grab’s Big Strategy and Cash Flow Question (1 of 3) (Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Article) From the Concept Library , concepts for this article are: Complementary P...
Apr 13, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 123
This week’s podcast is about combining two previously covered topics: growth and the digital operating basics. This can be surprisingly powerful. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Most of the growth thinking is a summary of work by Chris Zook at Bain’s strategy practice. I am citing the books: Profit from the Core Beyond the Core He argues most all sustainable growth is based on 1-2 strong cores that continually adapt. A profitable core is centered on the str...
Apr 04, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 122
This week’s podcast is about Southeast Asian tech giant Grab, its impressive execution and its chronic unprofitability. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book: Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition —–- Related articles: Growth, ROIC / RONIC and Growth + Sales in Digital Valuation (Asia Tech Strategy – Podcast 102) An Intro to Growth and “Birds in the Bush” in Digital Va...
Mar 25, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 121
This week’s podcast is about how web 3.0 is creating three types of marketplaces: Digital platforms (web 2.0), such as a Taobao Platform-protocol hybrids, such as Coinbase Protocol networks, such as Uniswap You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book: Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition —–- Related articles: How to Think About Web 3.0 Business Models (1 of 2) (Asia Tech St...
Mar 12, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 120
This week’s podcast is about customer capture as a competitive advantage. And how digital is really changing this type of moat. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book: Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition ---—– From the Concept Library , concepts for this article are: CA1: Share of Consumer Mind, Share of User Mind and User Capture Competitive Advantages From the Compa...
Mar 02, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 119
This week’s podcast is about Nike in China. But it really about how you win as a participant in large platform businesses in ecommerce and social media. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book: Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition ---—– From the Concept Library , concepts for this article are: Digital Complments SMILE Marathon: Ecosystem Orchestration or Participation D...
Feb 17, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 118
This week’s podcast is about web 3.0. I view most successful web 3.0 companies like Coinbase as platform-protocol hybrids. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . ------ From the Concept Library , concepts for this article are: Protocol Networks Platform-Protocol Hybrids / Web 3.0 From the Company Library , companies for this article are: Coinbase ------- I write and speak about digital competition and China / Asia’s leading tech companies. My book Moats and Marath...
Feb 06, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 117
This week’s podcast is about Nubank, Brazil's rapidly rising digital bank. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book: Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition Here are my 5 predictions for Nubank 2.0 #1: Nubank Could Offer Asset-Lite Credit Services #2: Nubank Could Create a Complementary Marketplace Platform for Investment and Insurance Products #3: Nubank Will Go Cross-Bord...
Jan 25, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 116
This week’s podcast is about Barriers to Entry, which is one of my 6 levels of competition. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book: Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition Most of my favorite businesses have key operating assets that can’t be easily built, bought, or transferred. This turns out to be an interesting list. Think about: Reputation, loyalty, and love. Persona...
Jan 16, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 115
This week’s podcast is about SenseTime, which is a leader in computer vision in China / Asia. It's a fascinating company for looking at the evolving business models of AI software. The two big questions are: What are the unit economics of large AI companies? What types of scale advantages and network effects do large AI companies? You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book: Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantag...
Jan 06, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 114
This week’s podcast is about my discussion with Abel Deng, the CEO of Huawei Thailand. And about how the next generation of digital infrastructure is developing in SE Asia. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book: Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition -——— Related articles: Huawei Is Going to Beat Trump with Human Resources, Not Technology (Pt 1 of 3) Huawei’s Employee S...
Dec 29, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 113
This week’s podcast is about Snowflake and Confluent. But the main topic is how to think about coordination, collaboration and standardization (CCS) platform business models. And the 4 types of these platforms. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book: Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition I’ve now started breaking this into 4 sub-types of CCS platforms. They are: Communi...
Dec 20, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 112
This week’s podcast is about the external view and the importance of base rates. Berkshire-invested Kroger supermarkets is a good example of a company that can really be viewed externally. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book: Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition Common metrics for base rates: Sales growth Gross profitability (gross profits / assets) Operating levera...
Dec 10, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 111
This week’s podcast is about ANE Logistics, which is a compelling business model for digitizing and consolidating less than truckload logistics in China. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book (released December 1): Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition My questions for ANE Logistics: Does a franchised logistics network with digital connectivity lower the barrier to ent...
Dec 02, 2021•51 min•Season 1Ep. 110
This week’s podcast is Brazilian Stone Company (STNE), the Berkshire Hathaway-invested payment platform that has fallen in share price by +80%. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book (released December 1): Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition ——- Related articles: Brazilian Stone Co, Chinese Ant, and American Square Are All Building Complementary Payment Platforms (1 o...
Nov 25, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 109
This week’s podcast is about how to assess specialty companies within enterprise software and services. And about Tuya, which an interesting example of a specialty B2B play. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book (released December 1): Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition Here are my 5 questions (thus far) for assessing the viability of a specialty ecommerce company. I...
Nov 18, 2021•59 min•Season 1Ep. 108
This week’s podcast is about Alibaba and Singles' Day. Just my thoughts on what really matters. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book (released December 1): Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition My list of 7 things people are getting wrong about Singles' Day: Business model is about building demand-side scale. This is also about economies of scale as a relative advanta...
Nov 10, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 107
This week’s podcast is more about Snowflake, the “data ecosystem” company. And how multiple companies are competing to create the standards and architecture for cloud services. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book (released December 1): Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition ---—- Related articles: Snowflake is Building 3 Complementary Platforms with 4 Network Effects ...
Nov 02, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 106
This week’s podcast is about Snowflake, the "data ecosystem" company. It is one of the most compelling digital business models out there. It is one of the few companies that could become the next Google or Microsoft. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Here is my new book (released December 1): Moats and Marathons (Part 1): How to Build and Measure Competitive Advantage in Digital Businesses Kindle Edition A summary of the Digital Operating Basics : Scale and g...
Oct 26, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 105
This week’s podcast is about core vs. adjacency growth. This is a good framework for thinking about growth in digital businesses. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . Most of this is a summary of work by Chris Zook at Bain's strategy practice. I am citing the books: Profit from the Core Beyond the Core Most all sustainable growth is based on 1-2 strong cores. A profitable core is centered on the strongest position in terms of loyal customers, competitive advanta...
Oct 19, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 104
This week’s podcast is about how digital impacts society, business, news and politics. And how centralized planning might be the best solution in a digital world. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes and Google Podcasts . ----— Related articles: Valuation Like Warren Buffett in 1 Slide (Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Lesson / Update) An Intro to Digital Valuation (Asia Tech Strategy – Daily Lesson / Update) Why DCF Sucks for Digital Valuation. (Asia Tech Strategy – Podcast 101) From the ...
Oct 12, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 103
