Should Meituan prioritize expanding its service offerings or improving existing core features?

Introduction

The trade-off question at hand is whether Meituan should prioritize expanding its service offerings or improving existing core features. This scenario involves balancing growth through diversification against enhancing the quality of current services. I'll approach this analysis by examining the context, evaluating potential impacts, and proposing a data-driven decision framework.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Context: I'm thinking about Meituan's current market position. Could you provide insights into our market share and primary competitors?

Why it matters: Helps assess the urgency of expansion vs. improvement Expected answer: Strong market leader with emerging competitors Impact on approach: Would influence whether to focus on defending core or expanding reach

• Business Context: Based on our financial reports, I assume our core services generate the majority of revenue. Can you confirm our revenue breakdown between existing and new services?

Why it matters: Determines the potential impact of focusing on core vs. new offerings Expected answer: 80% from core services, 20% from newer offerings Impact on approach: High core revenue would suggest prioritizing improvement

• User Impact: I'm considering our user retention rates. Have we seen any significant changes in user churn recently?

Why it matters: Indicates whether users are satisfied with current offerings Expected answer: Slight increase in churn over the past quarter Impact on approach: Higher churn might necessitate focus on core feature improvements

• Technical: Regarding our platform's scalability, how easily can we integrate new services without disrupting existing ones?

Why it matters: Assesses the feasibility of service expansion Expected answer: Modular architecture allows for relatively easy integration Impact on approach: Easy integration would support expansion strategy

• Resource: Considering our current team structure, how are our product and engineering resources allocated between core maintenance and new development?

Why it matters: Determines our capacity for expansion vs. improvement Expected answer: 70% on core, 30% on new development Impact on approach: Limited new development resources might favor core improvement