Alibaba

ICMR Case Collection
Icfai Center for Management Research

Alibaba: Competing in China & Beyond
BSTR288-Teaching Note

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BSTR/288

Alibaba: Competing in China & Beyond
TEACHING NOTE
CASE SUMMARY
This case discusses the success of Alibaba.com Corporation (Alibaba) in China under the leadership of Jack Ma (Ma), its founder. It talks about the transformation of Alibaba into one of the most successful e-commerce companies in China and also analyzes its business portfolio. The case explains in detail the rationale behind Ma starting an e-commerce website and his efforts to bring about the growth of the company.
Alibaba had emerged as the largest e-commerce company in China. The company tailored its strategies to meet the needs of the customers and made a mark because of its understanding of the
Chinese language and culture. However, some experts have also raised doubts over the sustainability of Alibaba‟s business model.
The case highlights how Ma successfully competed with foreign e-commerce companies like eBay
Inc. (eBay) by establishing a rival website, Taobao.com, in the online auctions market. However,
Alibaba lagged behind in the Chinese web search market despite acquiring Yahoo! China‟s operations in 2005. Moreover, with Baidu.com (Baidu), China‟s leading search engine announcing its plans to foray into the rapidly growing e-commerce market in 2008, the competition was expected to intensify for Alibaba. After a successful IPO, the company was preparing to strengthen its competitive

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