Many industries have to rethink the way their business and business models are organized when they resume action as the coronavirus crisis subsides. The travel industry is one of them, says Shanghai-based VC-veteran William Bao Bean, at WebInTravel. “Travel needed to solve a very big problem – high customer acquisition costs – and he said it needed a new model in which everyone wins, and not like now “where everyone loses but the platform”.Read More →

While birds are taking over many international airports, China’s second largest airline company China Eastern has launched a new airliner with a focus on its touristic Hainan. Business analyst Shaun Rein argues this is actually a good idea, even though much of the airline industry is still on its back after the coronavirus crisis, he tells at the BBC.Read More →

While messages from the coronavirus are mixed, to put it mildly, the current economic crash course might only be over by April/May, in the most optimistic scenario. Numbers of infected people and deaths by COVID-19 still vary to much to support any scenario at this stage, while it is also unclear whether the rest of the world can contain the virus.

Footage from metro subways still show empty carriages, as the central government tries to encouraged migrant workers to return to their workplaces, local governments – including the big cities –  advise returning migrants to put themselves in a social quarantine for two weeks to be sure they do not carry the virus. The dilemma is obvious: different government make different choices when it come to prevent major economic damage or keeping their cities save from the virus. Read More →

The trade war damages both US and China’s economy, and global trade. Financial and political analyst Victor Shih, Ho Miu Lam Chair associate professor of political economy at UC San Diego and author of the forthcoming “Economic Shocks and Authoritarian Stability,” gives an overview of the damage in the Los Angeles Times.Read More →

Major industries like travel, retail, automotive, telecom and others see their traditional business models changing very fast. At Shanghai-based SOSV managing director William Bao Bean helps startups to make money in new ways, based on data, and capture fast emerging markets, he tells at the Phocuswright Europe conference in Amsterdam last week. Companies should not cling to melting margins, but identify where money can be made, he argues.Read More →

Ctrip is one of China’s successful travel companies, but for most startups, it is a tough market to crack, said William Bao Bean, managing director of the Shanghai-based China Accelerator, last week at a travel conference in Amsterdam, according to Phocuswire.com. Bean did identify some potential success stories, though.Read More →