On the heels of Didi announcing the deal to acquire Uber China, The Economist reflected on some of Western media’s historical pride and prejudice against Chinese internet firms in its cover article – “China’s tech trailblazers”. China’s internet market has many unique characteristics – the Great Firewall, government censorship, unique and complex culture, and some local firm’s unconventional (or highly questionable) competitive tactics. To many Western media, it is easy to conclude that local firms flourished because of protectionism. To me, this inference is more level-one thinking. Would the competitive outcome be different without the above constraints against foreign firms? The answer is No. Let’s first tally the scores of some of the well-known internet wars: Continue reading “Didi & Uber China: End of the Car Hailing War, End of Pride and Prejudice” →