Abstract

Sina Corporation, a leading online media and mobile services provider, catered to the Chinese language audiences in four countries. The company's most important market, however, was China. The Chinese economy was witnessing rapid growth and made Sina's business environment very dynamic. The case describes how Sina took advantage of China's growing population of online users and built a business model around online advertising. The case then details the strategies pursued by the company when it faced a threat in the form of a drop in online advertising business in China. Finally, the case describes the latest challenges facing the company as the Chinese online media industry matures.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Develop an understanding of the Chinese online media industry
• Understand the dynamic nature of fast developing online businesses and the challenges faced by companies operating in these industries
• Study the viability and sustainability of online advertising business model in China.

Keywords

Sina Corporation Sina Corporation, Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS), Text Messaging, SRSnet.com, Internet Portal, Localization of Content, Multimedia Messaging Service, Dotcom Advertising, Interactive Voice Response Services and Web Alliances