Medical spending in China is increasing every year, and people have started to buy medicine online, with nearly 3 million people buying medicine through mobile apps, among which the largest one is Yiyaowang–the”No.1 pharmacy.” Set up by Yu Gang and his partner, the founder of China’s first large online supermarket, Yihaodian, Yiyaowang is also a key part of a healthcare ecosystem that combines an online hospital, a drugstore and patients. Yu, an experienced businessman and a scholar, tells how he built the ecosystem, how it simplifies the medical process and gives patients access to cheaper drugs.
Fairphone Takes a Crack at Fair Trade in Mobile Phones
Are you among those who worry about where their products come from? So you prefer to shell out an extra buck for fair trade coffee instead of a regular cup of joe. You look for the Fairtrade certification when you buy clothes. But what about your phone? Fairphone, an Amsterdam-headquartered company, is selling phones on the premise that they are made from conflict-free minerals. Is that a compelling proposition for customers? Will they pick an ethically produced phone over an iPhone which has greater functionality, more aspiration value and a style quotient?
Creating Customer Value is Not Enough
The price you are able to command for your services doesn’t just depend on how much customer value you create.
China Plus One: Does it Add Up?
As China changes, companies are being forced to adopt China Plus One strategies and look at other countries for manufacturing.
China Roundup: Apple inches ahead of Samsung in China; China’s Staggering Debt; and a New Food Scandal
The week that was: Apple is making a comeback and beating Samsung in China; China has a debt-to-GDP ratio of a whopping 251%; and fast food giants find themselves battling a new food scandal. Will Apple eat Samsung’s pie? Although the earnings report of Apple’s third fiscal quarter of 2014 (Apple’s fiscal quarter runs from end […]
The Age of Micro-Multinational Companies
Low communication costs and improved access to global markets for talent, supply chain requirements and customers is paving the way for micro-multinational companies. In the old days, startups were usually formed by people who’d known each other for a long time–relatives, professional colleagues, or old school chums–a small team that got together and created something […]
Rolls-Royce in China: Riding on China’s Growth
Patrick Horgan, Regional Director, North-East Asia, on how Rolls-Royce diversified in China. Unknown to many, China’s engagement with Rolls-Royce, the iconic British multinational company, goes back nearly a century. In 1919 the first airmail service between Beijing and Tianjin was powered by Rolls-Royce engines on a Handley Page aircraft. In 1963, Rolls-Royce sold Dart engines […]
3D Printing: Life in 3D
Prophets of doom say 3D printing will overturn manufacturing in China. They are both right and wrong. Wisps of smoke rise from nowhere as an invisible beam silently traces a path inside one of the three-dimensional (3D) printers at Beijing Longyuan Automated Fabrication System (AFS). The printer is in the early stages of making a […]
The e-Grocery Gold Rush
China’s e-commerce companies are suddenly stocking up on groceries. Buying groceries in Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai is a nightmare for many office-goers. After a long day at work, shoppers head to overcrowded supermarkets just to find noise, confusion and impossibly long queues at the payment counter. And it doesn’t end there: they also […]
Digital Marketing and China’s Expanding Internet: Location-Based Services and the Mobile Internet
In January 2013, China’s internet user base reached 564 million users. China’s smartphone users have also surpassed the 300 million mark, signaling a tectonic shift towards mobile internet usage. Despite strict censorship controls on internet content in China, social media has caught on with unprecedented momentum. Established Twitter-like platforms such as Sina Weibo and Tencent […]
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