Abstract

The case “Tujia.Com: Leader in China’s Home-Sharing Market” talks about the strategies of China-based Tujia.com (Tujia) to establish itself in the home sharing and vacation rental market of China. The case starts out by mentioning Tujia’s early days as a start-up and the business practices it adopted to popularize the till then unpopular practice of home sharing among Chinese customers. It also talks about the company’s unique understanding of Chinese sensibilities that helped it differentiate itself effectively in the Chinese market. The case goes on to discuss the challenges faced by Tujia, especially the strong competition from the local companies and global giant in the home sharing space – Airbnb. Can Tujia emerge as a force to reckon with in the global home share industry?

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand innovative business models that help companies to grow and gain a competitive advantage.
• Identify business strategies that enable a company to differentiate itself in the market.
• Examine the competitive advantage of a local company having knowledge of its home market against multinationals.
• Analyze the factors that drive a start-up’s growth in a new market.
• Explore the competitive scenario in an emerging industry.

Keywords

Tujia; Home sharing market; Sharing economy; Entrepreneurial Opportunity recognition; business model innovation; Airbnb