As China shifts from a manufacturing economy to a knowledge-based economy, will the Chinese management style need to adapt?
Africa Calling: How Transsion Rose to Dominate the African Phone Market
To many people in its home market China, Transsion Holdings is a company name they’ve never heard of. But this smartphone maker, based in Shenzhen, taking over 38% market share, is rising to dominate the smartphone market by with its Tecno Mobile, Itel and Infinix. Its success shows what differences can a small company make by truly catering to consumers’ long ignored needs, as said by local tech expert, “Transsion has succeeded because they addressed the problems of the market directly. They make phones with features that are attractive to Africans.”
Sean Ellis on Growth Hacking: Focus on a number related to your value to customers
What is the most important thing for a startup? Growing your business by focusing on the value to the customer is the answer given by Sean Ellis, founder and CEO of GrowthHackers, a service that helps 200,000 members with their growth strategy. According to Ellis, “growth hacking” is more than a buzzword in Silicon Valley—it’s a marketing strategy with actionable methods that prioritize business growth.
When Branding Meets Politics: Interview with Shaun Rein
One of the world’s most high-profile China experts, Shaun Rein made his name by highlighting new trends in the Chinese economy years before the Western media caught on. In 2012, his first book, The End of Cheap China, highlighted that China’s low-cost manufacturing miracle was coming to an end. Two years later, he correctly predicted the rise of a new generation of innovation-led Chinese companies in The End of Copycat China. In his third book, The War for China’s Wallet, he tells us that it has never been more critical for brands to understand the Chinese market.
Flying High: China’s Aviation Industry is Becoming a Global Force
Seven years ago, around 70% of passengers in US-China air trips were American. But today, more than 50% of travelers are Chinese. Flying used to be a luxury mode for travel in China, but now is for the masses. Data shows that by 2029 China will overtake the US as the world’s largest passenger market. The increasing passenger demand has not only brought Chinese airlines big successes in the past decade but also some real challenges like lengthy delays and poor service. In fact, Chinese airlines are struggling to keep up with growth in demand, and compared to foreign counterparts, they are not as global nor as profitable as they should be.
Good Signals: Huawei Pushes Further Forward
Huawei is one of only a few Chinese companies that has become truly global, deriving more revenue abroad than at home. Long a telecom equipment provider, Huawei shifted its focus to consumer devices and took only five years to become the second most profitable Android smartphone maker and the third largest in terms of production. How did the company manage to do that, given that the smartphone industry is highly competitive? And smartphones are only the highest-profile part of the sprawling telecom giant. With over 170,000 employees across the globe, what is the company’s management system like and what could we learn from Huawei’s model?
The Talking Cure: Pay Attention to Counter Narratives
Telling and retelling stories is one of humanity’s most durable characteristics: Harvard linguist Michael Witzel has argued that most of the world’s mythologies grew out of a single set of stories first told in Africa 130,000 years ago. Yet what is the future of corporate storytelling? Although our penchant for storytelling may not change any time soon, the storytelling used inside the corporation does seem to be shifting in two ways. First, storytelling is becoming recognized as a trainable skill. Second, and possibly more importantly, the Internet is making it increasingly difficult for companies to control a single version of their own story.
Not Just Another Day in the Park
Theme parks are normally a place to enjoy a nice day out with your friends or family. However, in mainland China, theme parks may soon turn into a battleground. Wanda Group, a conglomerate that has opened several amusement parks across China over the last few years, has warned Disney about its theme park operations in China. It’s certainly not easy, if possible at all, for Wanda to make Disney unprofitable. Will lowering price at the cost of lowering its own profit help, or improve the quality and service is more practical? Maybe the best solution is to get along with the competitor.
Keep Your Customers Happy but Disorganized to Prevent Buyer Power
As a seller, you may often encounter a situation like this: your customers gather and discuss the product they want to buy and one day they come to you and form a group, bargaining. As a result, you have to offer them discounts and other benefits. Harvard economist Michael Porter formalized this idea, called “buyer power,” in 1979. “Buyer power” is separate from the competition that you face and you should be careful to distinguish the two. Even if you face little competition, if your buyers are powerful then you are in trouble. Read our article to find out a solution.
Uber-Didi Merger Ends a Fierce Rivalry for Market Share
The battle for car hailing market share has ended with Uber merging its Chinese business with local rival Didi Chuxing. The merger deal gave Didi a market share of nearly 90%. There are many worries and questions following the deal: will government consider it to be an absolute monopoly? Will passengers pay more and drivers being paid less? How will Didi manage to operate Uber China afterwards? To answer those questions we need to understand the history of Didi Chuxing—how it operated in ‘grey area’ and managed to beat so many other local competitors before it merged with Uber China—find the answer in our article.
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