With a focus on China's biggest internet companies, Alibaba and Tencent, the case study describes their respective histories, fintech subsidiaries and platform-based ecosystems. It illustrates the strategy issues that arise from an institutional void and market uncertainty: how to determine the business model, generate unprecedented value for customers, and ultimately compete with foreign as well as local rivals. It aims to help students understand the opportunities and challenges for firms in emerging markets, the evolutionary nature of strategy-making, the digital transformation, how new business models give rise to new regulatory challenges, and how firms respond to changes in the institutional environment. The case has four parts. The first two describe the growth of Alibaba and its fintech subsidiary Ant Financial, and of Tencent with its superapp WeChat and fintech subsidiary WeChat Pay - noting how each built its own ecosystem and their mutual attempts to squeeze the other's core business. Part 3 describes the pre-existing banking and finance industry in China. Part 4 explores their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives in the face of increasing regulatory and institutional pressures.

This case explains the technological changes in mobile communications, with a special focus on the fifth generation (5G). It describes the evolution from the first generation (1G) to the 5G; core technologies, distinct capabilities, key products, and major players in the 5G era. It can be used to illustrate how each generation of technological change offers opportunities for different types of firms and how they respond. It can also be used to discuss the technological, market, and institutional uncertainties associated with emerging technologies, as well as how firms and entrepreneurs can mitigate such uncertainties and exploit emerging opportunities. The case can also be used to debate first-mover vs. late-mover advantages in the 5G era.

The case focuses on China's 'furious five' smartphone makers - Huawei, Xiaomi, Lenovo, and OPPO/Vivo, charting the history of the industry and the changing dynamics of the global market. It explains the emerging market context in which these companies operate, its distinctive features, opportunities and challenges, and the various ways they have triumphed over established global brands. The case provides a detailed introduction to the respective Chinese smartphone makers and their products. It discusses their current strategies and how they were influenced at the formative stage by the background and experience of the respective founders. It examines their development trajectories to shed light on their global strategies in the future. Given its dynamic growth and intense competition, China's smartphone market offers an ideal setting to analyse the competitive heterogeneity of firms in an emerging market context.

The case sets China's Huawei Technologies in the context of the evolving global smartphone industry, notably its positioning and the links between its competitive strategy and its corporate (global) strategy. It describes the origin, growth and structure of the smartphone industry, evolving industry trends and dynamics, and profiles the major players including Apple and Samsung (originally hardware manufacturers), Google and Microsoft (originally software developers), and new entrants such as HTC and Xiaomi. It focuses on the factors behind Huawei's stunning success-from a traditional telecom equipment provider to the third largest smartphone maker in the world (after Samsung and Apple), while pointing to the challenges that lie ahead. The unique characteristics of smartphones- multi-functionality, high degree of technology integration, and fast-moving ecosystems-make them an ideal choice for analysis of industry change. The tale of Huawei-a Chinese telecom giant-entering and succeeding in the highly competitive global smartphone industry allows for discussion of the competitive strategy and organizational transformation of an emerging economy multinational enterprise.

As a result of fast-developing mobile technology, companies must deal with increasing business complexity in a high-velocity environment. The Uber vs. Didi case illustrates a wide range of strategic issues that a company may face when creating a new business model, generating unprecedented value for customers, challenging traditional business and regulatory frameworks, and expanding into an emerging market to compete with local rivals. The case is about Uber's competition with Didi, its local rival in China. The first part describes the traditional taxi industry, using the illustration of the US taxi medallion system. It explains Uber's platform-based business model, value innovation, challenge to government regulation, and surge pricing model, as well as associated ethical issues. The second part describes the emergence of Didi in China and how it challenged Uber when it entered China's ride-hailing market. Unlike its rapid expansion in the US and other countries, Uber had a bumpy ride in China. In June 2015, Didi was reported to have 80.2% of the market, outperforming Uber's meagre 11.5%. With China's internet giants joining the battle as strategic investors-Baidu (backing Uber), Alibaba and Tencent (both backing Didi), and from Silicon Valley-Apple (backing Didi), the race between Uber and Didi has far-reaching implications.