As Alibaba and Tencent approach their twentieth birthdays will they be dislodged by the new generation of internet start-ups in China? Perhaps ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, smartphone maker Xiomi or Meituan Dianping, which delivers food and other services may knock them of their perch. As Chairman of Walpole Capital I am always looking at […]

Fifteen Chinese startups reached unicorn status last year alone; effectively 30% of the world’s new billion dollar companies were created in China in 2017. While the world was focused on the Orange Muppet and Brexit, China was focused on what is most likely to prove the most significant shift of this century.  What I mean […]

This whole idea of, like, every time you want something, having to spend money, I mean, that’s kind of like an old-school idea. As a futurist, I’m of the mindset that you won’t really buy anything, and people won’t own anything and that’s just how the world will work. Buying stuff? It’s so last century. […]

Recently I have been spending a lot of time in our Tech Centre in Madrid and been thinking about digital marketing. I thought I would share some of my thoughts with you. I think that the most important part of any marketing, especially digital marketing campaign, is the ability to build and maintain customer loyalty. […]

With a loud Bavarian fanfare at the Frankfurt Motor Show this year, BMW pledged to build 25 – yes 25!!! – new electric models by 2025. Raising the bar amongst the traditional car manufacturers, BMW also plans to launch the third model in its electric ‘i’ series at Frankfurt. But it’s not just the Germans […]

“I just don’t get China!”, “As a foreigner, how do you get anything done in that country?”, “How can you trust the Chinese?!!?” Having worked with China for nearly two decades now I get many of these questions from friends and colleagues. They realise the need to do business with China and are having some […]

Geopolitical turmoil, cyber hacks, Brexit and Donald Trump—many recent disruptive events have taken our industry by surprise. What is for sure more now than ever is that change is coming and it is coming fast. As such our industry needs to have new leaders, at all levels of the food chain, that can replace old […]

One of my recent articles, ‘How do we prepare our children better for the future?’, inspired lots of comments and questions, which I’d like to thank each and every one of you for. The main question that I was asked was how can we utilise the latest technologies in order to make the education process […]

So I have to start with a big ‘thank you’ to everyone for your comments and questions on my article, ‘Who Will Disrupt the Tyre Industry?’. Most of the questions and comments were focused around drone technology and flying cars. Since I was asked by many of you to write further on this topic I thought […]