Top articles of the week | May 25

May 25, 2019

Every week, we put together a list of our top 5 articles of the past week. Happy reading!

How Haier gives insights into China’s radical transformation IMD, Research and Knowledge (reading time: 5 minutes)

China’s transformation is remarkable on a macro scale. Yet, it’s the individual stories that make the story more interesting. We’ve covered Haier in past newsletters and this article adds to the corpus of knowledge. The most revealing part is the company’s ecosystem strategy, a topic our firm has been deeply exploring.

Find new growth at the edges of what they are involved in, develop organizations that facilitate emergence, rely on autonomous energies to take command transform their identify to that of the ecosystem.

The Pivot Asymco (reading time: 5 minutes)

Apple has built a remarkable business on the back on the iPhone. It hasn’t rested on its laurels throughout its meteoric rise. This is an excellent analysis of how it’s maintained and increased its competitive advantage.

What makes a business great is dynamism. The idea is to constantly maneuver for a new or enhanced way of doing business as technologies enable entrepreneurs to fundamentally change how value is captured or allocated.

WeWork Wants to Become Its Own Landlord With Latest Spending Spree Bloomberg (reading time: 13 minutes)

In the recent crop of tech “unicorns”, WeWork is the most misunderstood. No one is quite sure if it’s a real estate company or just good at financial gymnastics.

One thing is certain; its founder Adam Newmann is steadfast in his vision. This piece in Bloomberg dives into the company’s growth, strategy and recent partnership with Ivanhoe Cambridge.

Food-as-a-Service: The $3 Trillion Meal Delivery Market ARK Invest (reading time: 7 minutes)

I’m long on Uber for one big reason, meal delivery. Meal delivery is part of a larger socio-economic trend, convenience. This analysis dives into consumer preferences, the addressable market; the global meal delivery market is nascent relative to its long-term opportunity.

Netflix’s Competitive Resiliency Is Here to Stay Redef (reading time: 13 minutes)

This is an excellent piece on Netflix’s competitive advantage. Despite an increased number of competitors and content on the market, Netflix continues to be the leader in streaming. It continues to command pricing power and benefit from the systemic decline of traditional television.