Weblog with daily updates of the news on a frugal, fair and beautiful China, from the perspective of internet entrepreneur, new media advisor and president of the China Speakers Bureau Fons Tuinstra
Branding expert Ashley Dudarenok, author of Innovation Factory: China’s Digital Playbook For Global Brands (September 2023), discusses with Pascal Coppens what global brands can learn from China. Business models from the USA, Germany, and Japan have left their footprint in business education. Still, the innovations coming from China have been left out of this business learning process, says Dudarenok, especially regarding ways to reach consumers directly.
VC William Bao Bean, managing director of Orbit startups, explains how tech transfers can limit – for example – carbon emissions in food production at COMEUP 2023. His 20-year experience in China helps other Asian startups to avoid mistakes China has made.
Investor William Bao Bean, Managing Director of Orbit startups, explains how he helped artists make money from their music at All That Matters 2023, introducing three successful investments from his portefeuille. Explaining the fast-changing models to generate money, using for example Tiktok/Douyin, and many more new tech models.
Technological change severely disrupts our lives in the next 5 to ten years, innovation expert Alvin Wang Graylin explained at the Edge Asia-World Expo in Hong Kong. AI and XR come to the rescue, he says. And what does it mean for our jobs?
“China’s rapid economic reinvention has been nothing short of miraculous, but that reinvention has faced criticism that the country is good at manufacturing but not at innovating,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of the China-focused digital consulting firm, ChoZan. “It’s clear that China has proven those critics wrong, and in Innovation Factory, we showcase how China has been able to jump into the digital age with less baggage with the game-changing mobile phone, do it at speed, and keep up the pace to get it where it is today.”
In the ongoing tech war between China and the US, China has been building up an advantage in spending vastly on the development of supercomputers, says innovation expert Winston Ma in IBTimes.
IBTimes:
While it is unclear how far China has advanced in its goal, Winston Ma, adjunct professor at NYU’s Law School on sovereign wealth funds and author of “The Digital War – How China’s Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace,” told IBT that the Chinese government has consistently increased R&D spending on supercomputers “in pursuit of major breakthroughs.”
“In the new digital economy where the computing power fuels all activities like the oil of the past, supercomputer is at the frontier of U.S.-China tech rivalry, because to out-compete is to out-compute,” Ma noted…
[Ma said] Beijing’s supercomputing power will “significantly help China to develop AI/machine learning capabilities.” With AI’s ability to learn from large datasets paired with massive computer power, Beijing may find it easier to tackle some of its most difficult economic, scientific and military challenges.
Andrew Gaule discusses with marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok how China leapfrogged over the past 15 years in innovation and marketing, leaving many of the Western competitors behind, often forcing them to leave China.
Tech entrepreneur Winston Ma explains how tech is shaping the competition between China and the US, where China is likely to play the key part, despite the current leading role of the US.
A tech war is raging between China and the US, but financial analyst and innovation expert Winston Ma sees enough synergy between both countries to allow investments in tech to go forward, he tells at the Ben Grahan IX annual conference.
Marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok discusses how innovation changes the post-corona travel plans of China’s consumers. Tourism should be preparing for some changes, she argues. And when will the Chinese be ready to travel?
China leapfrogged ahead in developing technology by using advantages through mobile-first, blockchain and AI, tells technology analyst Winston Ma in an interview with state-owned CGTN. How China got a headstart in new technology compared to the US, now followed by the digital currency.
Veteran investor Jim Rogers explains how countries became successful and how China is following that global path to wealth, he tells at this Huawei commercial.
China initially became the factory of the world, and equivalent to low-quality products. But those days are over, says marketing expert Arnold Ma at his Myth Buster vlog. Innovation and high quality have become key in China’s production, although you can still get some cheap, low-quality stuff too, he adds.
Never waste a good crisis, says investment expert Winston Wenyan Ma, quoting the other Winston, Winston Churchill. China used the pandemic crisis to accelerate its already ongoing digital transformation at a panel discussion to make a difference, he tells at the ORF at a panel discussion.
More than 50 platforms in China offer live streaming as a highly sophisticated tool, say innovation expert Ashley Dudarenok at her vlog. Compared to their counterparts in the West, live streaming in China offers a wide range of tools the reach out to their viewers.
Shanghai-based VC William Bao Bean explains how his global SOSV fund helps startups to fight against the big internet, and bring innovation into the traditional VC world, at the Asian Investors podcast.
Fashion firm Shein belongs to a new breed of ultra-fast fashion brands that keeps an edge on its more traditional competitors, says innovation expert Matthew Brennanat the Vox. Why is Shein going to crunch fashion companies like Zara?
The Vox:
Toward the tail end of the 2010s, “ultra-fast” fashion brands — Asos, Boohoo, Fashion Nova, and now Shein — emerged as viable competitors to the dominant fashion empires of the previous decade. Last October, Reuters reported that investors think “Zara … is going to be crushed by fast fashion 2.0.” These ultra-fast fashion companies are able to reach millions of young shoppers directly through social media without the need for physical retail space, and relied on search traffic and customer data to foreshadow trends.
But by virtue of Shein’s location and software technology, the retailer developed a speedy edge on its competitors. Matthew Brennan, a Beijing-based writer and analyst of Chinese technology, likened its pace to “real-time” retail. That means Shein is constantly gathering and analyzing customer data and uses that knowledge to craft new designs — within as little as three days.
“Each new design is basically a bet because Shein can estimate how well a product is going to do, but it doesn’t know for sure until it sells,” Brennan explained. “Compared to its fast fashion competitors, Shein is able to take more bets, but at a lower risk. It’s able to place very small initial orders with these factories, about 100 or even smaller.” These batches were much smaller than Zara’s and that of ultra-fast fashion retailers like Boohoo, which reportedly ordered about 300 to 500 units per style. If a specific top goes viral overnight on TikTok, for example, Shein will be able to instantaneously ramp up production on the garment and place additional orders depending on demand.
Shein has spent years cultivating relationships with Chinese garment factories and manufacturers, whereas most Western brands generally outsource this work. Inditex is similarly situated close to a garment production center in the northeast region of Spain, but according to Brennan, business in China moves much faster.
“Shein doesn’t work with very large factories but [with] small to mid-sized workshops that pick up orders daily,” Brennan said. “It’s very much like an Uber system, where new orders are coming into factory owners’ phones and they receive the order. It’s very scrappy, but efficient.”
Fintech expert Winston Wenyan Ma joins a panel at the BSN base and explains how China’s economy moved from import/export to a focus on innovation. China missed the world’s first technological revolutions because of domestic turbulence and external influences but has become a leading force for the third technological data revolution.
