Business Case Study Alibaba

According to case study from Harvard Business School, “Alibaba dominates China’s Internet and logistics space with over 600 million subscribers, and nearly a quarter trillion dollars of annual transactions. A combination of Amazon and eBay, it holds an 80 per cent share of the e-commerce market in the world’s second largest economy.”
In recent years, rising labour and raw material costs have been amajor challenge faced by Chinese exporters. Small businesses, were effected the most they often need to spend a substantial amount of their time and human resources on export processes such as customs clearance, logistics and tax rebate application. As smaller an export order, the larger was the cost involved with it. Internet-based unified export-services,
Automation in Alibaba
Alibaba has largest population of mobile robots in China. There are around 100 AGVs (automated guided vehicles) in the warehouse, which occupies approximately 3,000 square metres.
Equipped with WiFi and self-charging, these robots are answerable for moving goods around. Looking like a little bigger version of the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, the AGVs can travel at speeds of up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) per second and carry up to 600 kilos at one time.
Cainiao currently offers same day and one-day delivery services to more than 1,000 regions in China. When a shopper places an order on Alibaba’s Tmall shopping site, an AGV is activated in the Huiyang warehouse. It receives the order signal, locates the item and transports it to a human warehouse worker, who assembles and ships orders to customers.
New Efficiencies
Since the Huiyangwarehouse began operations in July, the company claims that efficiency among its human workers has improved three
The company in its model is much closer to the traditional style of retailing, as it indulges in direct selling, owning distribution centre and warehouses (unlike Alibaba). Amazon has built a strong standing among its customers by providing satisfactory service and customer experience. In 2000, Amazon launched platform for individuals and retail sellers to reach out to customers via Amazon.com. Amazon’s company website reveals that “over 2 million third-party sellers participate in Amazon where they offer new, used, and collectible selections at fixed prices to Amazon customers around the world.” Amazon has great logistic potential and manufactures self branded