Post Event - CICC`s Monthly Informal Meeting SGSO – July 10th, Shanghai

This month CICC`s monthly informal meeting, Stesso Giorno Stessa Ora, took place at MAMMAMIA! Restaurant, on July 10th in Shanghai. 

Among the participants, some of the CICC Members, staff and Board members, who had the occasion to meet each other before the summer break, to discuss new ideas and projects and get ready for the next events. 

During the dinner an overview entitled "Walled Gardens: Tencent vs. Alibaba" was delivered by Ervis Micukaj from SSBG IT Solutions.

Thanks to his focus, Mr. Micukaj helped to understand the differences between the two companies, helping to define which one would be better for different business. 

Mr. Micukaj underlined the origins of the two companies: both have started from humble origins in the early 2000s and decided to take head on big competitors (Alibaba competing against Ebay, Tencent competing with instant messaging companies like Yahoo messenger). And they succeeded big time building 2 big ecosystems based on their biggest strengths:

- Instant messaging and value added services for Tencent (i.e. online gaming and add on)
- E-commerce for Alibaba (i.e. Taobao)

Also their business development aims are quite different:

Alibaba preferes to focus on buying controlling stakes in businesses that are a fit with its commerce platform and plenty of times assigns C level executive(s) in the board of the acquired company. Their objective is to set an operating mindset in line with Alibaba.
Meanwhile Tencent buys minority stakes in very diverse businesses to build new partnerships and gain access to their technology. They tend to give money / technology to the company, but decide to leave the management team in place. In exchange, the partners have to use Tencent tools. 

You can find Mr.Micukaj  presentation here.

After his speech and an interesting session of Q&A, the guests enjoyed the dinner prepared by the chefs of Mammamia!

The CICC wishes to thank all those who attended the event and hopes you will spent a serene summer!

CICC Staff