<p align="justify">Established in 2002, Chengdu, China’s Four Inter Catering Group Co. Ltd. (Four Inter) was a company specializing in Sichuan cuisine and Sichuan culture dissemination. After 21 years of development, Four Inter formed a business model that emphasized both inheritance and innovation of Sichuan cuisine and provided a broader channel for its growth. In 2023, as COVID-19 came to an end, the food and beverage industry ushered in a new round of development. But Four Inter was caught in the predicament of a regional business model. At this juncture of development, Xiaohong Xu, chairperson and CEO of Four Inter, needed to make a decision about the company’s future direction. Should it deepen the awareness of existing brands (refine) or explore the unknown map (expand)?
Founded in 2014 in Guangdong, China, Guangdong Haiqixing Marine Technology Co. Ltd. (Haiqixing) was a total solution service provider for marine big data applications. In the early stage of its development, Haiqixing achieved growth through a business development strategy. Unfortunately, since 2019, it had been affected by such factors as the reorganization of national government agencies and the impact of COVID-19, which had caused its business to suffer inevitable shocks. In 2020, to enhance the company’s ability to cope with environmental changes and ensure continuous growth of the business, Haiqixing’s chair carried out a strategic transformation, changing the company’s business development strategy to one oriented toward product development. Consequently, the company achieved a rapid increase in operating income. However, the company’s existing technical capabilities could not meet customers’ needs. The chair needed to determine Haiqixing’s next steps. Should Haiqixing continue to pursue its product development strategy, or should it adopt a technology exploration strategy to improve its technical capabilities?
In 2017, Chinese clothing manufacturer Qingdao Kutesmart Co. Ltd. (Kutesmart) had been transformed into a customer-to-manufacturer platform company, where customers could order individualized products directly from the makers over the Internet. Since 2000, Kutesmart had been upgrading its information system as its business strategy evolved, and the company had become a widely known, successful case study of mass-customization-based manufacturing in China. However, as the company leaped forward into the age of digitization and globalization, its founder faced a number of questions: How could Kutesmart extract more value from its data resources and technology? The company was assessing and pursuing a platform strategy; could this strategy help Kutesmart take its business to the next level? What were the opportunities and challenges?