China’s digital landscape: Imitating or innovating

• Main Authors: REDDY, Srinivas K., WANG, Zack Zheng, HE, Deckie Dong
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2016
• Subjects: China’s digital landscape; online marketplace; instant messaging; online video; online travel agents; online payment; Asian Studies; E-Commerce; Marketing
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cases_coll_all/147; https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/case/1931
• Institution: Singapore Management University

China’s digital market is on the rise at an exceptional pace, and giant digital players, such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, have already surpassed some of the U.S. industry’s most successful names in terms of market capitalisation. When competing in China’s digital market, local Chinese digital players have an advantage over foreign newcomers as access to this market is restricted, and some international digital and social platforms are banned in China due to Internet censorship. However, while the hurdles created by censorship might have opened the gates for local companies to imitate Western innovations without international rivals - the internal competition within China is never easy. Chinese digital companies have to face tough local competition to win users and maintain a high retention rate. This requires them to constantly innovate and improve their products and services to stay ahead of the competition, which vigorously accelerates the development of China’s digital markets. The question to ask is: Are Chinese digital companies merely imitating their Western counterparts, or are they also innovating?