Chunyu: The First Mover in Chinese M-Health Industry

Description

Chunyu Yisheng (Chunyu) was the largest mobile health (m-health) application in China. Since its creation in July 2011, the application had focused on providing online medical information and consultations with professional doctors. Chunyu's business model was based on free and premium online health care services. In the first three years, Chunyu gained more experience than profits. The primary concern for the founder and chief executive officer of Chunyu was to find a profitable and value-creating business model. Two potential solutions for Chunyu were to rebuild the current online consultancy-based model or move to an alternative profitable and long-term value-creation model. How should the founder and chief executive officer choose which option to pursue?

Learning Objective

This case is suitable for undergraduate, graduate, and executive programs. It works well in entrepreneurship, innovation, e-commerce, and strategy courses to enable students to analyze a start-up's business model and growth. Specifically, the case offers students an opportunity to ·understand how effective use of the Internet can add value to an entrepreneur's business and industry; ·analyze challenges faced by entrepreneurs in implementing and evaluating strategies based on the distinctive nature of business and industry; ·learn how to develop a rapid opportunity analysis, identify a sustainable business model, and execute overall business planning; and ·recognize the industry-specific characteristics of well-known e-commerce business models such as online-plus-offline.

Keywords

Business Model healthcare Internet