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alibaba: The Inside Story Behind Jack Ma and the Creation of the World's Biggest Online Marketplace
by Liu Shiying Martha AveryThe first in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar company Alibaba.com—known to many as "China's eBay"—and the inspirational story behind the man who created it.A bestseller in China and now translated into English and updated with recent events, Alibaba by Liu Shiying and Martha Avery tells the remarkable story behind the Internet phenomenon Alibaba.com and its founder Jack Ma, a man Barron's named one of the World's Top 30 CEOs in 2008. Ma's rise to prominence presents a riveting story: Despite growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution—in a period of total state control of the economy—he developed the keen entrepreneurial instincts that propelled him to billionaire status and enabled him to build a company outside the usual government channels. These instincts and habits incorporated martial arts training and allowed him to recognize, early on, that the Internet could leverage his company to rapid growth and also transform the way business is done around the world. Alibaba.com, where businesses can buy and sell everything from air beds to zippers, started with a modest initial investment of $60,000 and has grown exponentially since its founding in 1999 to become the world's biggest business-to-business Web site. In 2007 it became the second largest IPO in history (after Google), and Fast Company has named it one of the world's most innovative companies. As a result, smart investors and technology insiders will be keeping a close eye on Alibaba for years to come. Whether you're seeking to understand China's meteoric rise, or just searching for the next Google, Yahoo!, or Amazon, Alibaba is crucial reading.
Alibaba and the Future of Business: Alibaba, The Future Of Strategy, And What It Means For You
by Ming ZengFeature
Alibaba Goes Public (A)
by Krishna G. Palepu Suraj Srinivasan David Lane Charles C.Y. WangIn 2014 Alibaba debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, creating not only the largest IPO in history but this initial desire to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was denied due to the company's desire to preserve its partner's control over decision rights. Why did Hong Kong deny Alibaba's requests to list dual-class shares or to allow its partners to nominate a majority of the board of directors, and in the process turn away a superstar in Alibaba? Why did American stock markets approve of Alibaba's governance structures, despite the warnings of many governance experts? How can investors ensure that their capital would be deployed effectively by the company's top management?
Alibaba Goes Public (B)
by Krishna G. Palepu Suraj Srinivasan David Lane Charles C.Y. WangUpdate on Alibaba Group's share price performance and related events in the year following its September 2014 IPO.
Alibaba Group
by Julie M. WulfDiscusses how Alibaba Group successfully managed new business ventures to become a leader in China's online marketplaces. Students follow Alibaba Group's transition from a startup to a multibusiness firm with over 15,000 employees in just over a decade. They analyze the evolving dynamics of internal competition and cooperation among Alibaba Group's subsidiaries. Students are also asked to address Alibaba Group's strategy, the role of its corporate center and how to incentivize subsidiary executives.
Alibaba's Taobao (A)
by Felix Oberholzer-Gee Julie M. WulfExamines the decision of Alibaba Group to diversify from an international business-to-business (B2B) exchange (Alibaba.com) into a B2C and C2C exchange (Taobao.com) for Chinese retailers and consumers. In China, Taobao had managed to displace the once dominant eBay, the world's largest consumer marketplace. However, the company had little revenue because it offered services free of charge.
Alibaba's world: Cómo una empresa china está revolucionando el mundo empresarial
by Porter ErismanLa oferta pública inicial más grande de la historia, más aún que Google, Facebook y Twitter combinados, se celebró en septiembre de 2014, por una compañía china de la cual la mayoría de los occidentales nunca había oído hablar. Alibaba, ahora la empresa de comercio electrónico más grande del mundo, escapó de la atención del mundo occidental durante más de diez años, mientras construía una base de clientes que sumaba más del doble de la de Amazon y se encargaba de la mayor parte de las transacciones de comercio electrónico en China. ¿Cómo pasó? ¿Y qué significó ser parte de tan revolucionario proyecto? En este libro, Porter Erisman, uno de los primeros empleados occidentales de Alibaba y jefe de marketing internacional entre 2000 y 2008, muestra cómo Jack Ma se levantó de la oscuridad para fundar Alibaba y dirigirla, desde que era una startup en dificultades hasta convertirse en el jugador de comercio electrónico más dominante del mundo. A partir de historias sobre cómo resistió el desplome de las puntocom, enfrentó a eBay y Google, negoció con el impredecible gobierno chino y soportó los consejos equivocados de expertos extranjeros, el autor analiza el papel de Alibaba como un heraldo del nuevo panorama global de negocios, con su enfoque en Oriente en lugar de Occidente, en los mercados emergentes sobre los desarrollados, y el ágil emprendedor sobre el titán de la industria.
Alibaba's World: How a Remarkable Chinese Company Is Changing the Face of Global Business
by Porter ErismanIn September 2014, a Chinese company that most Americans had never heard of held the largest IPO in history – bigger than Google, Facebook and Twitter combined. Alibaba, now the world's largest e-commerce company, mostly escaped Western notice for over ten years, while building a customer base more than twice the size of Amazon's, and handling the bulk of e-commerce transactions in China. How did it happen? And what was it like to be along for such a revolutionary ride?In Alibaba's World, author Porter Erisman, one of Alibaba's first Western employees and its head of international marketing from 2000 to 2008, shows how Jack Ma, a Chinese schoolteacher who twice failed his college entrance exams, rose from obscurity to found Alibaba and lead it from struggling startup to the world's most dominant e-commerce player. He shares stories of weathering the dotcom crash, facing down eBay and Google, negotiating with the unpredictable Chinese government, and enduring the misguided advice of foreign experts, all to build the behemoth that's poised to sweep the ecommerce world today. And he analyzes Alibaba's role as a harbinger of the new global business landscape—with its focus on the East rather than the West, emerging markets over developed ones, and the nimble entrepreneur over the industry titan. As we face this near future, the story of Alibaba—and its inevitable descendants—is both essential and instructive.
Alibris (A)
by Andrew Mcafee Kerry HermanAlibris is an Internet-era company providing search and fulfillment services for hard-to-find (rare, used, and out-of-print) books. At the time of the case, the company had made decisions to change its revenue model, to become involved in the fulfillment process for each book it sells by establishing a cross-dock facility, and to purchase Oracle's Internet commerce software. However, the implementation of this software has been very difficult, delaying the launch of the new fulfillment business and costing large amounts of money at a time when cash is scarce. The company's leaders, who are not IT professionals, must decide whether to continue with Oracle or begin anew with another product.
Alibris (B)
by Andrew McafeeTakes place more than two years after the (A) case. Alibris has weathered the storms and has built a popular, growing business. As the Christmas season of 2000 approaches, the company is confronted with two IT projects that both seem urgent and important. The first is an effort to replace the software tool used by book dealers and others to upload their listing to the Alibris database. The current tool is error prone and does not provide rich information about each book uploaded. This lack of rich information makes useful searches of the Alibris database difficult. The second project involves ensuring the integrity of the database itself. Recent evidence suggests that records are not being uploaded, updated, and deleted as they should be in all cases, with adverse effects for customers. Alibris must decide which of the two projects to pursue immediately. There are not enough resources to do both.
Alibris in 2004
by Andrew McafeeAlibris, an online marketplace for rare, used, and out-of-print books, is trying to communicate to the professional book dealers who are its main suppliers that they are in the middle of a crisis. Supply is flooding the market, in part from individuals who simply want to clean out their bookshelves and make a bit of money. These individuals' sales are facilitated by a number of online merchants, including Alibris, Half.com, Amazon.com, and eBay. Alibris has built a number of powerful capabilities to help both buyers and sellers of books. Among these is a pricing service that allows sellers to set market prices for their books automatically. Alibris wants to encourage its dealers to use this service: the problem is that most market prices are far below the prices dealers have set for their books.
Alicia Keys
by Boris Groysberg Annelena Lobb Sarah MehtaThis case explores the life and career of Alicia Keys, the 15-time Grammy winning singer-songwriter and producer. Set in 2019, it covers the evolution of Keys's 18-year musical career and additional passions, including acting, entrepreneurship, social justice activism, and collecting art with her husband, rapper and music producer Swizz Beatz. Now a mother of two young sons and with no intentions of slowing down, Keys considers what the next phase of her life and career might hold. This case would be useful for students studying the music and entertainment industry. It also holds relevance for executives approaching the peak of their career and looking to make more deliberate decisions about time management and prioritization.
ALIEN Thinking: The Unconventional Path to Breakthrough Ideas
by Michael Wade Jean-Louis Barsoux Cyril BouquetHow do people come up with truly original ideas? The answer is to think outside the box—way outside. For the past decade, Cyril Bouquet, Jean-Louis Barsoux, and Michael Wade, professors of innovation and strategy at IMD Business School, have studied inventors, scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, and artists. These people, or &“aliens,&” as the authors call them, are able to make leaps of creativity, and use five patterns of thinking that distinguish them from the rest of us. These five patterns—Attention, Levitation, Imagination, Experimentation, and Navigation—lead to a fresh and flexible approach to problem-solving. Alien thinkers know how to free the imagination so it can detect hard-to-observe patterns. They practice deliberate ways to retreat from the world in order to see the big picture underlying a problem. And they approach ideas in systematic ways that reflect the constraints of reality. Through surprising and compelling stories, the authors show how readers can use this method to develop out-of-this-world ideas. ALIEN Thinking can help any of us find innovative solutions to the most difficult problems.
Alienating Labour: Workers on the Road from Socialism to Capitalism in East Germany and Hungary (International Studies in Social History #22)
by Eszter BarthaThe Communist Party dictatorships in Hungary and East Germany sought to win over the “masses” with promises of providing for ever-increasing levels of consumption. This policy—successful at the outset—in the long-term proved to be detrimental for the regimes because it shifted working class political consciousness to the right while it effectively excluded leftist alternatives from the public sphere. This book argues that this policy can provide the key to understanding of the collapse of the regimes. It examines the case studies of two large factories, Carl Zeiss Jena (East Germany) and Rába in Győr (Hungary), and demonstrates how the study of the formation of the relationship between the workers’ state and the industrial working class can offer illuminating insights into the important issue of the legitimacy (and its eventual loss) of Communist regimes.
Align: Get Your Team on the Same Page, Discover Clients' Needs, Develop Better Products
by Laura Marie ReeseUnderstanding what customers want is neither easy nor obvious — but it is essential for all companies. In this guide, expert Laura Reese walks you through the pitfalls and possibilities of customer interactions. Focusing on business-to-business fields, she demonstrates how to run face-to-face meetings that solicit valuable feedback and shares simple techniques for unlocking meaningful insights into a client's needs.You will learn how to cultivate an aligning mind-set within your company and among your own team by defining clear roles for each member. In addition to step-by-step guides for running customer alignment meetings, the book outlines specific skills for improving engagement with customers. Based on concepts of proven effectiveness, these tools will help transform a disparate group into a unified team of professionals working toward the same goal of discovering valuable customer insights."In the world of product development, be it semiconductors or anything else for that matter, big bets are placed on building the product the customer really needs. At Altera, Laura Reese energetically engaged on a mission to master the art of understanding what the customer really truly wants, digging through the layers of what to get to the far more valuable understanding of why. In this journey she developed a strategy for customer engagement to overcome the challenges of confirmation bias and other aspects of human nature-driven obstacles to the truth. In doing so, she created intellectual honesty in Altera's understanding of customers' needs, leading to some of the best products Altera has ever produced. The techniques she describes are applicable to any kind of uncovering exercise required to achieve an understanding of what is really required. I am delighted that she has been able to share her insights through this book." — Richard Cliff, CTO, Altera Corporation
Align Technology, Inc.: Matching Manufacturing Capacity to Sales Demand
by H. Kent Bowen Jonathan P. GrobergAlign Technology is a four-year-old medical products company that has invented a new product requiring new manufacturing processes. Demand for the new product has grown more slowly than initial forecasts predicted, and the cost structure is preventing the company from becoming profitable. The manufacturing process involves six different operations located in California, Pakistan, and Mexico. The first dilemma requires downsizing the capacity until the demand grows. Increasing capacity in the future requires consideration of the time lags, costs, and incremental units of added capacity inherent in each of the six processes. Given the uncertainty of accurate sales forecasts as the company carries out new marketing initiatives, the manufacturing organization has been challenged to create a capacity plan to meet demand while lowering its fixed costs.
Align the Practical Realities: Generation Y--Shaping Your Personal Career Strategy
by Tamara EricksonDuring your job search, you will have to home in on the practical realities of your specific situation. How much money do you need to make? How much time can you devote to work? What level of responsibility do you want? If they don't align with your biggest dreams, you may need to prioritize your wants and needs and decide which concessions to make as you start you career. In this chapter, the author offers a framework for organizing your thoughts on these realities, along with two stories of Gen Y's who are in the midst of wrestling with these trade-offs.
Align Your Incentives to Focus on Profit
by Frank F. Bilstein Frank Luby Hermann SimonA common corporate shortcut is to reward salespeople primarily on how much they sell or how much revenue they bring in. This shortcut often encourages behavior that can destroy your profits or undermine your efforts to increase them. It trains salespeople to ask their superiors for lower prices instead of negotiating with customers for higher ones. To retrieve the higher profits they deserve, companies need to make the transition from volume-based sales incentive systems to profit-based ones. This applies to your own sales representatives and to your channel partners, who act as your agents to the end customer.
Aligned Influence: Beyond Governance
by Ken SchuetzFor board members and executives, a clear path to organizational improvement.Within every organization is an “ecosystem” of influencers. In organizations with boards of directors and executives, that ecosystem is even more complex, and it is even more important to understand it for the benefit of everyone, including investors and donors.To date, governance models have provided little to no understanding of this ecosystem of influence, leaving this as an ongoing problem in organizations with the complexity of a board and executive. Governance experts have applied a number of inadequate solutions to a problem they still do not grasp. In Aligned Influence®, Ken Schuetz presents the Aligned Influence® model, which offers a unique perspective on this central problem—and a solution that addresses organizational alignment as a necessary prerequisite to effectiveness.
Aligned Thinking
by James SteffenToo much to do! I never get anything done! I have so little control over my life! These were thoughts Ray had as he headed home later for supper, confident his wife, Carol, would be sympathetic to his problem. One sentence into unloading his problems on her, he heard, "Too much to do? Tell me about it!" Her problems were as big as or even bigger than his. When they went to a friend for help, they discovered more than hope, "That sounds like us several years ago. But Coach Eric's Aligned Thinking not only solved those problems, it helped us to do what most people believe impossible: align every action to what we really want. With mild hope and huge skepticism, Ray and Carol visited Coach Eric and gave him a description of their ideal professional and personal life. Coach Eric assured them that Aligned Thinking could help them enjoy each item on their list. However, when he asked them to add to their list "make every moment count so life becomes a celebration," Ray and Carol became even more skeptical. Join Ray and Carol as they discover the proven power of Aligned Thinking.
Aligned Thinking: Make Every Moment Count
by Jim Steffen Ken BlanchardModern life is filled with frustrations -- too much work, too many interruptions, not enough personal time, and an increasing sense of losing control and meaning.The key lies in three questions: "How do I get the most from the only thing I control -- my actions now?"; "With the many options I have, how do I stay focused on what I really want?"; and "What do I really want from life and work?" Written in the style of a simple fable, the book invites readers to join Ray and Carol Walters as they learn to apply the techniques of Aligned Thinking to their own lives. Together, they discover how to understand their priorities and develop practical ways to focus on what's important. Equally good for at work or at home, Aligned Thinking helps partners communicate and grow closer, allowing them to reduce stress and increase productivity, motivation, morale, and, most important, satisfaction.
Aligned to Achieve: How to Unite Your Sales and Marketing Teams into a Single Force for Growth
by Tracy Eiler Andrea AustinA smart, practical guide to rocket-powered business growth Aligned to Achieve puts sales and marketing on the same page, creating a revenue 'dream team' that will drive your organization to new heights. Smart, practical explanations, case studies, and tips guide you toward action over theory, and dozens of examples illustrate the tangible effects of these changes in action at business-to-business companies. Written by sales and marketing executives who have made alignment work, this book is directed toward practitioners and leaders seeking to crack the code of sales and marketing alignment. Contributions by industry thought leaders and B2B executives provide fresh perspective and nuanced direction, while thoughtful, strategic, and well-supported guidance throughout helps you remove the obstacles standing in the way of your organization's financial and strategic goals. Misalignment between sales and marketing is an age-old problem—frequently lamented, but seldom addressed. As this schism grows amidst the evolving marketplace, its effects on top and bottom line performance are being felt more than ever before. This book shows you how to bring sales and marketing together effectively once and for all, leveraging their strengths to build an unstoppable force for growth. Understand the cost of misalignment and the driving forces behind it Learn strategies for improving your culture, process, leadership, and technology to initiate and support alignment Identify the best places to modify your sales and marketing programs to kickstart collaboration and cooperation between your teams Discover how other companies are uniting their sales and marketing teams into a single force for growth Walk away with practical advice on how to apply recommendation in the real world Misalignment is frustrating for everyone in sales, marketing, and leadership. It's also detrimental to your organization's performance—but the problem is not insurmountable. In fact, most of the obstacles it creates are self-inflicted, and entirely within control of leadership. Aligned to Achieve helps you identify and remove those obstacles, and build a culture of sustainable growth.
Aligning: Fundamental to Achieving Payback
by Harold L. Sirkin James P. Andrew John ButmanThis chapter focuses on the importance of aligning the various organizational units, disciplines, activities, structures, and processes around driving innovation and creating payback.
Aligning Boards and Investors
by Robert S. Kaplan David P. NortonWith the increased emphasis on corporate governance, executives are now creating additional corporate value by using the Balanced Scorecard to enhance governance processes and to improve communication with shareholders. This chapter examines a three-part Balanced Scorecard-based governance system that offers directors streamlined and strategic information for making decisions about the company's future directions and its reporting and disclosure policies.
Aligning Business Strategies and Analytics: Bridging Between Theory And Practice (Advances In Analytics And Data Science Ser. #1)
by Teresa D. Harrison Murugan AnandarajanThis book examines issues related to the alignment of business strategies and analytics. Vast amounts of data are being generated, collected, stored, processed, analyzed, distributed and used at an ever-increasing rate by organizations. Simultaneously, managers must rapidly and thoroughly understand the factors driving their business. Business Analytics is an interactive process of analyzing and exploring enterprise data to find valuable insights that can be exploited for competitive advantage. However, to gain this advantage, organizations need to create a sophisticated analytical climate within which strategic decisions are made. As a result, there is a growing awareness that alignment among business strategies, business structures, and analytics are critical to effectively develop and deploy techniques to enhance an organization’s decision-making capability. In the past, the relevance and usefulness of academic research in the area of alignment is often questioned by practitioners, but this book seeks to bridge this gap.Aligning Business Strategies and Analytics: Bridging Between Theory and Practice is comprised of twelve chapters, divided into three sections. The book begins by introducing business analytics and the current gap between academic training and the needs within the business community. Chapters 2 - 5 examines how the use of cognitive computing improves financial advice, how technology is accelerating the growth of the financial advising industry, explores the application of advanced analytics to various facets of the industry and provides the context for analytics in practice. Chapters 6 - 9 offers real-world examples of how project management professionals tackle big-data challenges, explores the application of agile methodologies, discusses the operational benefits that can be gained by implementing real-time, and a case study on human capital analytics. Chapters 10 - 11 reviews the opportunities and potential shortfall and highlights how new media marketing and analytics fostered new insights. Finally the book concludes with a look at how data and analytics are playing a revolutionary role in strategy development in the chemical industry.