China and the Unicorn Growth Model

Following up on the post immediately below, "Corn Wars: China Can't Feed Itself, Therefore It Must Steal", we have a clear-the-bases-and-go-have-a-beer walk-off home run winner for headline and post of the day, from FT Alphaville:

China: Uber but for countries

A unicorn is a legendary mystical animal with a single spiralling horn that is both highly sought after and impossible to find.

In techland, however, it represents the hunt for something even more elusive: a start-up with the potential to become a multi-billion dollar company on the back of the winner-takes-all monopolistic eco-system superpower effect.

Given that unicorns are supposed to be rare, it’s weird there are so many of them these days.


(Perhaps investors appreciate that unicorns can be grown rather than hunted down if the correct conditions are engineered. As long as the race to the top is ongoing and there’s no obvious front-runner, it’s logical to assume any horse could become a unicorn.)

In the end, however, there can only be one winner. What’s more, because this is ultimately a dirty and exhausting race, he who sources the most dedicated and under priced workers/acolytes is most likely to win. The bolder the vision and the greater the promise of eventual windfalls for all, the greater the propensity to rally hearts and minds for the cause.

And of course, there is no better example of this strategy in play than China’s own export and investment-led growth model.

Yup, we’re calling China the ultimate wannabe unicorn*:

Insert Awe Inspiring Table Here

At this point in China’s unicorn cycle the question becomes, what if any of the following occurs? ...

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