Alibaba: Behold the Treasures of an E-Commerce Empire That Knows No Boundaries

Alibaba: Behold the treasures of an e-commerce empire that knows no boundaries

Jack Ma is the newly-minted wealthiest citizen in China―but you won’t find an ounce of arrogance in this man's character. Alibaba’s founder a.k.a. “Crazy Jack” has mastered the art of humility, an essential quality that most leaders are lacking today. Mr. Ma is a man of integrity who would rather sell his company than give into a bribe. He is a man for the people who has set out the goal of creating one million jobs in China. Mr.Ma has even put aside $3 billion to invest in a charitable trust focused on the environment and education. With values like that, everyone can get behind Jack Ma.

To further promote his good character, Mr. Ma insisted that Alibaba’s six principles — customer first, teamwork, embrace change, integrity, passion and commitment — be placed on the pillars of the New York Stock Exchange the day of his company’s game-changing IPO, which set the record for the largest ever on the US stock market.  On that historic day, Alibaba was valued at a whopping $168 billion, making it more valuable than eBay and Amazon combined.

Jack Ma tested the vision for his e-commerce phenomenon 15-years ago on the streets of San Francisco when he asked strangers from diverse nationalities if they knew what the word “Alibaba” meant. Just as he had hoped, people associated Ali Baba, the protagonist of a world-renowned fairy tale, with the story’s tagline “open sesame,” a phrase which gave Ali Baba the ability to gain access to all types of treasures. Easy to spell, and globally familiar made Alibaba the perfect name for an e-commerce site that knows no boundaries.

People and businesses alike love the treasures that Alibaba.com has to offer.  In fact, so much so that Alibaba holds 80% of the e-commerce market in China, and has even eclipsed Amazon as the largest and most valuable e-commerce company in the world. Chinese companies are known to be "fast followers" of technologies created elsewhere. That being said, Alibaba is not the most particularly innovative company out there. They borrow existing technologies to beat people at their own game.  The genius is in their “all-in-one” empire, which encompasses subsidiaries including Tmall and Taobao, which are comparable to Amazon.com and eBay, respectively. The company also earns money from transaction fees, through Alipay, which is similar to PayPal.  Top tech titans like Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and Larry Page have been known to emphasize technology and product above everything. Not Mr. Ma. “I’m not a tech guy,” he said. “I’m looking at technology with the eyes of my customers, normal people’s eyes.”