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Logistics

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China’s migrant workers swap manufacturing lines for delivery mopeds
Mar 15, 2019 (WiC 444)

Foxconn’s boss Terry Gou might well count 2007 as one of the best years of his life. Apple’s Steve Jobs had just launched the iPhone and in doing so was about to make Foxconn the world’s largest contract manufacturer for electronic goods ...

Delivering the goods

ZTO’s says franchise model will underpin its rapid growth
Mar 15, 2019 (WiC 444)

In many markets e-commerce firms only offer free delivery for pricier orders. But China’s vast army of fulfilment staff means that consumers can even get packs of cheap cotton buds delivered to their door for no extra charge. Thriving in the ...

JD.com opens its logistic network to rival SF
Nov 2, 2018 (WiC 430)

To solve the shortage of warehouse space as consumer shopping habits move increasingly online, Amazon’s engineers have figured out a solution: put the storage facilities underwater. According to Amazon’s patent filing, the aquatic ...

7-Eleven gets delivery partner Meituan as sector competition heats up
Aug 31, 2018 (WiC 422)

Three years ago we looked at the Chinese names chosen by 40 of the world’s top multinationals, giving top marks to selections made by BMW and Coca-Cola (see WiC283). You might expect a homegrown operator to have an easier time picking its ...

Pass the parcel

Alibaba and JD unveil delivery robots
Jun 8, 2018 (WiC 412)

Self-driving vehicles have been generating a lot of buzz, but much of it for the wrong reasons. Back in March, an experimental Uber vehicle, operating in autonomous mode, knocked down a pedestrian in Arizona in the first fatal accident of its ...

Vaccinated against failure?

SF Express sets out to prove Jack Ma wrong as it pushes into pharma
May 25, 2018 (WiC 410)

"Many logistics firms have gone public. But I could not see any difference in them before and after their listings, except [their bosses] becoming one of the richest tycoons, which is meaningless,” Alibaba’s Jack Ma declared, as he chided ...

Wang’s war with Jack Ma

Cainiao’s row with SF Express sets the scene for a longer struggle
Jul 14, 2017 (WiC 374)

Yuetan is a Chinese term that means to set a date and talk. It has a specific political context too. When a private sector firm is told that the authorities in Beijing are asking for a yuetan, it’s usually because they are ...

Ready to deliver

ZTO’s New York IPO is the biggest for a Chinese firm since Alibaba’s in 2014
Oct 28, 2016 (WiC 344)

Wells Fargo was founded as a banking and delivery firm during the California gold rush in the 1850s: buying and delivering gold and other valuable goods. Imperial China’s banks started with a similar business model. At a similar time Shanxi’s ...

Delivering the goods

SF Express seeks big fundraising to finance its new airport
Jun 3, 2016 (WiC 327)

Seven years ago the Dalian-based tailor Dayang Trands celebrated its 30th anniversary with a promotional film featuring a certain Warren Buffett. “I threw away the rest of my suits,” the Berkshire Hathaway chairman confided in the video, ...

China’s express delivery firms take competition to the skies
Oct 23, 2015 (WiC 300)

On September 26, a Boeing 737 took off from Hangzhou, bound for Chengdu, marking for Yuantong Express the inaugural flight of its new Yuantong Airmail operation and launching the first air delivery service based in the East China ...

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