China Paradigms

In the very first episode of China Paradigm, Matthieu David interviews Thomas Graziani, founder of WalkTheChat. We are exploring how he switched from an agency model to a SaaS product model, how to build a business in China and what the product WalkTheChat (walkthechat.com) can bring to e-commerce businesses to get access to the Chinese market through Wechat. WalkTheChat has been featured in many blogs, publishers and has been recognized as a top player in the Wechat ecosystem by many international firms based in China.

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This podcast is sponsored by daxue consulting, a strategic research firm that answers complex business questions on the Chinese market with traditional and tech tools. Since 2012, daxue has served more than 250 clients and completed more than 300 projects.

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Daxue Consulting is a market research and management consulting firm focusing on the Chinese market. We are leveraging a multiple-methodology approach in order to support clients’ needs, auctioning traditional methodologies as well as technology-driven tools. Read more on : http://daxueconsulting.com/blog/

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Connect with daxue consulting :

1. Reach us on : http://daxueconsulting.com/contact-us...

2. Learn more on daxue's blog : http://daxueconsulting.com/blog/

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4. Follow us on Twitter : https://twitter.com/DaxueConsulting

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Adrien Fabry, serial entrepreneur and current general manager of Phoceis Agency in China, explain all the tips, tricks and insights of social commerce in China. In this interview conducted by Matthieu David, we learn not only about different Chinese social media platforms but also practical advice on budgeting, chat boxes, and teamwork.

Highlights of this episode include:

3:11 Size of his business

5:45 The minimum budget to be active online in China is 60-100,000USD a year

12:00 WeChat's ecosystem in China

16:25 How do you configure a chatbox and what can it be used for?

21:15 Social commerce new platforms in China

23:45 Livestreaming in China, is it still hot for social commerce?

24:05 How to turn followers into sales

33:15 Minimum spending per day on advertising in China

39:40 How to initiate a creative campaign in China

47:15 Conversion rate during promotions in China

52:35 How Fabry stands out against the competition in China

56:00 Why make an entire team sales-oriented?

1:02:10 Why is it more difficult to maintain flash sales sites in China?

1:02:46 Differences in wine consumption in China and the west

Learn more about Phoceis Asia: https://www.phoceis.asia/

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This podcast is sponsored by daxue consulting, a strategic research firm that answers complex business questions on the Chinese market with traditional and tech tools. Since 2012, daxue has served more than 250 clients and completed more than 300 projects.

======================================================

Daxue Consulting is a market research and management consulting firm focusing on the Chinese market. We are leveraging a multiple-methodology approach in order to support clients’ needs, auctioning traditional methodologies as well as technology-driven tools.

More about Daxue Consulting: https://daxueconsulting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daxueconsulting/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/daxue-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaxueConsulting

Alvin Foo, Managing Director of Reprise Digital China, shares his knowledge on marketing in China including KOL marketing, using micro-influencers, SEO and SEM in China. In this interview with Matthieu David-Experton, he also goes in depth about the differences between Baidu and Google, what different roles they play and why search engines are struggling to stay relevant in China.

Highlights of this episode including:

3:00 What is a network agency

6:40 Cases that demonstrate what silent marketing is

12:30 How to define an audience with precision

14:20 How to interact through Douyin

17:20 How to find the right KOLs in China

21:00 Using micro influencers in B2B marketing

27:30 SEO and SEM in China, are search engines dead?

31:00 Why the total number of websites is declining in China, and what this means for marketers

32:30 Can Baidu experience the same success as Google?

36:30 Secret predictions on Google's future, and how it will manage competition with Amazon

40:50 Where is Google strong in China?

46:00 How Alvin became an advisor of so many companies, and what you need to know if you want an advisor like him.

More about Reprise Digital: https://www.reprisedigital.com/

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This podcast is sponsored by daxue consulting, a strategic research firm that answers complex business questions on the Chinese market with traditional and tech tools. Since 2012, daxue has served more than 250 clients and completed more than 300 projects.

======================================================

Daxue Consulting is a market research and management consulting firm focusing on the Chinese market. We are leveraging a multiple-methodology approach in order to support clients’ needs, auctioning traditional methodologies as well as technology-driven tools.

More about Daxue Consulting: https://daxueconsulting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daxueconsulting/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/daxue-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaxueConsulting

Charles Bark, serial entrepreneur in China and CEO and founder of HiNounou shares his dream-driven story with Matthieu David-Experton. HiNounou is a device solution and tech company in China's elderly care market. The company is valued at 25 million USD and has 15 employees in China, Singapore and Hongkong. HiNounou is the preventative solution for China's shortage of 10 million health care workers. Highlights of this episode include:

5:00 The purpose behind creating HiNounou, how to care for elderly parents while away

9:40 China's unique senior care challenge

15:00 The yins and yangs of health care

20:00 How much money Charles had to raise for his business

21:40 Sales and business method

24:30 How the product works, and what innovative tools are involved

33:00 How to find partners and factories in China, with some simple screening questions

39:30 How to convince partners to work with a 'little potato' company

46:40 How a small company can engage large companies

49:00 How HiNounou partnered with Universities to make prototypes

1:00:50 How Charles positioned his company to penetrate the right market

1:08:00 How to trigger the interest in potential partners

1:15:40 How to become a board member of a company

More about HiNounou: https://www.hinounou.com/

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This podcast is sponsored by daxue consulting, a strategic research firm that answers complex business questions on the Chinese market with traditional and tech tools. Since 2012, daxue has served more than 250 clients and completed more than 300 projects.

======================================================

Daxue Consulting is a market research and management consulting firm focusing on the Chinese market. We are leveraging a multiple-methodology approach in order to support clients’ needs, auctioning traditional methodologies as well as technology-driven tools.

More about Daxue Consulting: https://daxueconsulting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daxueconsulting/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/daxue-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaxueConsulting

Shimi Azar brought Spotad to China, a platform that simplifies mobile marketing. In this interview led by Matthieu David, we learn about Shimi's entrepreneurial story that started as a one-semester study abroad in Beijing and became an 8-year journey in China. Additionally, we get insight into digital advertising in China, tips and what to avoid.

Highlights of this episode include:

4:00 Registering a company in China, opening a bank account, and everything an entrepreneur needs to know

8:50 Current size of the business and how it switched from a creative agency to a tech agency

15:00 Understanding demand-side platform, supply-side platform, and programmatic advertising

25:00 Story of having Ofo as a client

30:00 How ad platforms target users

38:15 Differences in China and the West in advertising

39:20 How to avoid fraud in China, including avoiding buying fake traffic

42:10 The pricing model of Spotad

45:00 Difference between Chinese and foreign clients

46:50 What is the minimum budget of programmatic advertising

52:00 How to ensure the creative content is good enough, including a story with Uber as a client

58:00 Another fraud to look out for, pretending to play your ad but with incorrect re-direct link

1:02:40 Difference between programmatic and prescriptive advertising

1:04:30 How do look alike audiences work in China?

1:08:00 Bytedance's influential role in digital advertising

Learn more about Spotad: https://spotad.co/about/

Learn more about programmatic advertising in China: https://daxueconsulting.com/programmatic-advertising-china/

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This podcast is sponsored by daxue consulting, a strategic research firm that answers complex business questions on the Chinese market with traditional and tech tools. Since 2012, daxue has served more than 250 clients and completed more than 300 projects.

======================================================

Daxue Consulting is a market research and management consulting firm focusing on the Chinese market. We are leveraging a multiple-methodology approach in order to support clients’ needs, auctioning traditional methodologies as well as technology-driven tools.

More about Daxue Consulting: https://daxueconsulting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daxueconsulting/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/daxue-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaxueConsulting

Jenny Shi, founder of Uniway Consulting, a headhunting firm in China helping businesses find the best candidates to fill their positions. In an interview with Matthieu David-Experton, Jenny explains how she grew her business, and what tactics and tools are used in the headhunting industry in China and around the world.

Highlights of this episode include:

10:10 How to scale up on business referrals

13:30 Tools used in China for recruitment

22:30 Is 9-9-6 really a standard in China?

24:20 How do you build your own database of candidates?

25:15 What is the key-account driven business model?

27:15 How do you assess company culture, and decide if a candidate would be a good fit? 43% of candidates leave a company because of poor company culture!

31:50 How to analyze a candidates personality?

40:10 Tips on recruiting in China

43:00 The two main reasons people leave their jobs

50:00 Red flags when hiring headhunters

54:30 The effect of remote work on the industry, and the future of headhunting

To learn more about the DiSC personality assessment Jenny Shi mentions: https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/

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This podcast is sponsored by daxue consulting, a strategic research firm that answers complex business questions on the Chinese market with traditional and tech tools. Since 2012, daxue has served more than 250 clients and completed more than 300 projects.

======================================================

Daxue Consulting is a market research and management consulting firm focusing on the Chinese market. We are leveraging a multiple-methodology approach in order to support clients’ needs, auctioning traditional methodologies as well as technology-driven tools.

More about Daxue Consulting: https://daxueconsulting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daxueconsulting/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/daxue-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaxueConsulting

Fabien Guerin, the CEO and Founder of Talent Fishers, discusses optimizing HR and setting up teams in Asia. What are the recruitment and candidate evaluation techniques employed by Talent Fishers? Learn advice on hiring in Asia for both businesses and job searchers.

Highlights of this episode include:

5:00 How to open a new office in China or Asia

8:40 Parameters for finding the right employees in overseas office locations

14:15 How to make cross-border communication with a team go smoothly

24:30 Pricing model of Talent Fishers

29:50 How to run an interview, advice for the interviewee and candidate

34:35 What do candidates in Asia want in a job?

46:40 What technology and tools does Fabien use to evaluate candidates?

58:30 Differences between recruitment in the East vs West

1:06:15 What should foreigners looing to work at Chinese companies consider?

Learn more about Talent Fishers: http://www.talent-fishers.com/

======================================================

This podcast is sponsored by daxue consulting, a strategic research firm that answers complex business questions on the Chinese market with traditional and tech tools. Since 2012, daxue has served more than 250 clients and completed more than 300 projects.

======================================================

Daxue Consulting is a market research and management consulting firm focusing on the Chinese market. We are leveraging a multiple-methodology approach in order to support clients’ needs, auctioning traditional methodologies as well as technology-driven tools.

More about Daxue Consulting: https://daxueconsulting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daxueconsulting/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/daxue-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaxueConsulting

Matthieu David interviews Nicolas Clement, founder of Nego Asia, the China Distributor of one of the global leading sales performance consultancies, Halifax Consulting. He obtained the Stanford Professional Certificate in Strategic Decisions & Risk Management Certificate, and graduated with an MBA from ESSEC Business School. Nicolas Clement emphasizes bringing respect to the negotiation table, and focus on preparation and understanding your counterpart.

Highlights of this episode:

5:40 What is negotiation 4.0? The importance of respect

8:45 Sun Zi and other ancient negotiators, and what wisdom we can gain from them

10:45 Why preparation is the most important step to negotiating

12:15 How to best understand the other party

17:00 Is there a need to adapt knowledge and strategy while in China?

19:30 The paradigm of commercial negotiations, and one key difference in China and US negotiations

22:30 Be yourself, but the polite version of yourself

26:15 Is BATNA （Best alternative to negotiated agreement）still relevant today?

29:30 Advice for an entrepreneur on negotiating with investors

40:50 Using negotiation as a problem solving tool box

49:30 One companies failed negotiation experience in China and what you can learn from it

50:40 Nicolas's opinion on 'The Art of The Deal' and other book recommendations

More on Nego Asia: http://www.negoasia.com

======================================================

This podcast is sponsored by daxue consulting, a strategic research firm that answers complex business questions on the Chinese market with traditional and tech tools. Since 2012, daxue has served more than 250 clients and completed more than 300 projects.

======================================================

Daxue Consulting is a market research and management consulting firm focusing on the Chinese market. We are leveraging a multiple-methodology approach in order to support clients’ needs, auctioning traditional methodologies as well as technology-driven tools.

More about Daxue Consulting: https://daxueconsulting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daxueconsulting/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/daxue-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaxueConsulting

Matthieu David-Experton interviews Benjamin Patin, co-founder of Wheat Co. and Sailang. In this interview we learn about both his businesses, one doing China imports and one is a healthy restaurant in Shanghai. Diving deep into the business model of his restaurant, as it includes many interesting elements like meal planning and nutrition advising, we learn every step of starting a restaurant including initial investment, leases, employee management and expansion.

Highlights of this episode include:

8:15 The value of an intermediary in trade, and how he decides pricing

14:30 How people switch from import to export business successfully

18:10 How Benjamin transitioned from Sailang to Wheat Co. two companies in very different industries

20:30 Are health restaurants mainstream in China? And misconceptions of what is healthy among Chinese consumers

22:40 How to lease a restaurant space in China

25:45 Cost and management of staff in China

30:00 How much investment is needed for renovation?

33:00 Opening a second restaurant location, learning from failure

35:45 How he transformed a restaurant into a bar

42:00 Doing delivery and how to avoid commission fees

45:00 How to find reliable healthy food suppliers in China and the challenges of importing organic food

47:00 How to communicate authenticity of food claims among consumers

50:10 How Wheat Co. created a meal plan business model

56:45 Aspirations for the future of Wheat Co.

======================================================

This podcast is sponsored by daxue consulting, a strategic research firm that answers complex business questions on the Chinese market with traditional and tech tools. Since 2012, daxue has served more than 250 clients and completed more than 300 projects.

======================================================

Daxue Consulting is a market research and management consulting firm focusing on the Chinese market. We are leveraging a multiple-methodology approach in order to support clients’ needs, auctioning traditional methodologies as well as technology-driven tools.

More about Daxue Consulting: https://daxueconsulting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daxueconsulting/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/daxue-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaxueConsulting

Matthieu David-Experton interviews Andrei Prokhorovich, the founder and General Director of Eurasia Development Ltd. Andrei shares his vision of opening China's market to foreign high-tech companies and his insight on what barriers foreign companies face when entering China and what opportunities they can take advantage of in China.

Highlights of this episode include:

5:00 How he got involved in technology exchange between China and Russia

7:35 The size of the company

13:20 How dairy was slowly introduced to China

16:15 How to get a free office in China's technology parks

17:50 How to get Chinese government grants, the requirements for foreign tech companies

22:20 What does Eurasia Development Ltd. do for foreign clients

28:00 How Andrei has built relationships, or guanxi, with experts outside of the company

30:30 Cases of past clients

31:15 How Dodo Pizza entered China in a new retail format

43:00 How he scales his business in China

45:00 Why Yantai is a good place to start a business

1:00 Why communication is a core part of Andrei's life

More on Eurasia Development Ltd.: http://ed-innovative.com/

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This podcast is sponsored by daxue consulting, a strategic research firm that answers complex business questions on the Chinese market with traditional and tech tools. Since 2012, daxue has served more than 250 clients and completed more than 300 projects.

======================================================

Daxue Consulting is a market research and management consulting firm focusing on the Chinese market. We are leveraging a multiple-methodology approach in order to support clients’ needs, auctioning traditional methodologies as well as technology-driven tools.

More about Daxue Consulting: https://daxueconsulting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daxueconsulting/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/daxue-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaxueConsulting