Digital Transformation in China during the Pandemic: Will Expo-One's Online Journey End Offline?

By the end of 2020, the world was still deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and most countries were fighting, in many cases desperately, their second and third waves. China, on the other hand, had managed to effectively control the virus and as a result had succeeded in protecting both the health of its citizens and its economy. China's success in making the country almost free of COVID-19 was important for businesses as it meant a return to certainty and stability, and the ability to plan and work in an environment close to pre-pandemic times. However, as was the case in many countries, at the height of the pandemic, Chinese businesses-often with institutional support-had moved aggressively towards digital transformation as they struggled to find solutions to adapt to the new normal of lockdown. By March 2020, Expo-One, a Chinese exhibition firm had seen its traditional business collapse as a result of the pandemic lockdown, travel restrictions and the resultant cancelation of events. In haste it launched a start-up project called 'Cloud Expo' to digitalize its business. The company's owner and CEO, Irina Zhang, led this incredible digital transformation effort and it seemed that the company had adapted to the new reality. However, matters were not that simple. As China settled back down to normality it was not at all clear whether all of the efforts to establish a new online exhibition experience and develop new products made sense. Should Expo-One return to its traditional offline exhibition format and mothball the problematic digital model?