• Spark Education: Service Innovation and Exploration in Edutech

    This case illustrates the founding philosophy and continuous improvement of Spark Education Limited ("Spark Education") and analyzes challenges in the online education industry. Since its inception, Spark Education has been committed to reshaping foundational learning and promoting education equality. Powered by technology and innovation, Spark Education delivered online small classes and AI courses. Based on the operating model of "courses + teaching + service," rounds of innovation and exploration have been conducted. After three years of development, Spark Education has grown into China's largest small-class online platform in mathematics thinking education. However, this young startup's pursuit for further excellence became a big question after the Chinese government introduced the "Double Reduction" policy in July 2021. Affected by this policy, many capital-fueled online and offline education companies, including Spark Education, have been hit hard. The "Double Reduction" policy wrecked Spark Education's IPO plans (the company had submitted its application in the US two months earlier) and imposed significant uncertainty on its future. These market players are in dire need of a way out of the crisis. Looking ahead, Spark Education needs to re-examine its business model and core strengths or build a second growth curve. In August 2021, Spark Education held an executive meeting on its transformation and future business direction. First, Spark Education has to review the value of its online education model, especially the small-class-based adaptive learning model. Second, can Spark Education follow Outschool's model of providing small online classes that were well-received in the US? And if so, what should Spark Education teach? The final question throws it back to the nature of education-What should Spark Education do to provide considerate education services and ensure students enjoy adaptive learning featuring technological innovation? How can children's
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  • AstraZeneca(China): Leveraging Offline Doctor-Patient Relationships in Online Healthcare Service Platform

    The sales of various drug products for AstraZeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical company, have been greatly impacted by the volume-based procurement resulting from the medical reform in China. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 epidemic has catapulted the internet pharmaceutical industry into rapid development. When crises are intermingled with opportunities, AstraZeneca attempted to establish Yiliyili.com, an internet medical service platform, by leveraging its offline resources. Chen Hua, the CEO of Yiliyili.com, has 14 years of experience in pharmaceutical e-commerce and has set up an innovative "doctors-to-pharmaceuticals" model in contrast to the mainstream that runs otherwise. This model was created through collaboration with doctors from contracted offline hospitals who were engaged online. The goal was to establish a stable and active group of doctor users while providing them with empowerment and supporting services. The objective was to replicate existing doctor-patient relationships in an online setting. Meanwhile, it has extended services in physical medical and pharmaceutical products to value-additive services such as case management and compliance-related services for patients. It has also extended the provision of prescription drugs other than essential drugs at non-public offline hospitals according to patients' needs to enhance its marketing abilities for such drugs. Furthermore, it has used its marketing capacity for prescription drugs to establish cooperation with other medical appliance manufacturers to form an integrated marketing platform through which it could average down its fixed costs for maintaining a huge marketing team while better-utilizing marketing capacities. Can Yiliyili.com gain a competitive edge over its traditional competitors by implementing a service-heavy strategy and utilizing its offline strengths to outperform its online advantages? Will it be able to establish itself as a top-notch provider of exceptional and cost-effective
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