ZOMOZOMO: From Platform Operator to Provider

Founded in September 2016 and based in Beijing, China, ZOMOZOMO primarily conducted business through its gamified freelancers’ platform, where designers’ works were publicly requested, reviewed, chosen, and rewarded, eliminating some of the long-standing troubles within the industry, such as inefficiency, fragmentation, and lack of transparency. The company soon became a prominent player in the design industry. The first four years of the company witnessed the rapid expansion and diversification of its client base, which began to include many influential brands such as Amazon.com Inc., Nike Inc., and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. However, ZOMOZOMO began to find it increasingly challenging to meet the needs and requirements of its high-end clients in terms of response time, service quality control, and confidentiality. In deciding to shift from a bidding platform to a provider of one-stop design solutions, ZOMOZOMO needed to determine whether it should prioritize building its internal capabilities or seek external partnerships to deliver high-quality design solutions to its high-end clients.

This case is suitable for undergraduate- or graduate-level courses as strategic management and entrepreneurial management and is particularly fitting for the strategic change module. It is intended to help students understand how companies, in view of their resources and strengths, make strategic changes in response to changes in the external environment, as well as the challenges brought by their new strategies. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to<br><br><ul><li>analyze a company’s external environment and internal resources to make strategic decisions that align with the company’s strength and objectives;</li><li>identify all the company’s dilemmas and challenges in the strategic change;</li><li>come up with a detailed implementation strategy and specific actions that need to be taken; and</li><li>evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of two strategic change plans and determine the best approach to solve the current problem while meeting the needs and expectations of clients.</li></ul>

• ZOMOZOMO
• design platform
• strategic management
• entrepreneurial management
• strategic change
• external environment
• internal resources
• high-end clients
• service quality
• confidentiality
• client needs
• response time
• design solutions
• bidding platform
• one-stop solutions
• implementation strategy
• client expectations
• dilemmas
• challenges
• benefits
• standardization
• supply chain