Is expanding into international markets worth the potential loss of focus on Baidu's core Chinese user base?

Introduction

The trade-off we're examining today is whether expanding into international markets is worth the potential loss of focus on Baidu's core Chinese user base. This scenario involves balancing growth opportunities against the risk of diluting resources and attention from our established market. I'll analyze this trade-off by considering market dynamics, user needs, technical challenges, and strategic implications.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Context: I'm thinking about Baidu's current market position in China. Could you provide more details on our market share and growth rate in the core Chinese market?

Why it matters: Helps assess the potential opportunity cost of shifting focus. Expected answer: Dominant market share (>70%) with slowing growth. Impact on approach: High market share might justify exploring new markets, while rapid growth could suggest doubling down on China.

• Business Context: Based on our financial reports, I assume search advertising is still our primary revenue driver. How does the revenue mix look between search, cloud, and other services?

Why it matters: Understand which products we'd prioritize in international expansion. Expected answer: Search advertising still dominant (>60%), with growing cloud and AI services. Impact on approach: Would focus expansion efforts on our strongest revenue generators.

• User Impact: I'm curious about our user engagement metrics in China. What's our daily active user (DAU) trend over the past year?

Why it matters: Indicates whether we're saturating the Chinese market or still have room to grow. Expected answer: Steady but slowing DAU growth. Impact on approach: Slowing growth might support international expansion, while rapid growth could suggest focusing on China.

• Technical: Considering our AI and machine learning capabilities, how well do our algorithms perform in non-Chinese languages?

Why it matters: Assesses our technical readiness for international markets. Expected answer: Strong in Chinese, developing capabilities in other languages. Impact on approach: Significant development needed might delay expansion or require partnerships.

• Resources: What's our current allocation of engineering and product resources between maintaining core products and developing new features or markets?

Why it matters: Understand our capacity for taking on new initiatives without compromising existing products. Expected answer: 70% maintenance, 30% new development. Impact on approach: Limited new development resources might necessitate careful prioritization or increased hiring for expansion.