alibaba: The Inside Story Behind Jack Ma and the Creation of the World's Biggest Online Marketplace [Hardcover]

Liu Shiying (Author), Martha Avery (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2009

The 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Jack Ma had the odds stacked against him from an early age: Born shortly after the Cultural Revolution in China, a time of great social tension for all, his family was ostracized for having sided with counterrevolutionary forces. His growth was stunted, he had a lot of trouble in school, was stubborn and undisciplined; and being quite rebellious, he got into a lot of fights, but he usually lost because of his small size. He failed the college entrance examination twice and was nearly condemned to a lifelong profession of low-paying service work. Despite all this, Ma went on to create one of the largest online business-to-business marketplaces in the world in a country that has some of the most restrictive laws regarding Internet freedom. From an initial investment of $60,000 in 1999, Alibaba.com has surpassed eBay in China as the largest Web site on which to buy and sell goods, and is now worth $26 billion. How he did it is an inspirational story of perseverance in the martial-arts tradition of creating a will through positive reinforcement. --David Siegfried

Review

“[Alibaba is] entertaining. Avery occasionally gives the story a mystical air with allusions to proverbs and martial art…Avery has turned the reverential original into a highly readable tale.” (Financial Times )

“[A]n inspirational story of perseverance.” (Booklist )

“Ma’s rise is worth digesting. How he progressed quickly from ignorance of the Internet to mastery of the new technology — to overcoming official Chinese resistance — will help American readers realize how surreal establishing capitalism in a quasi-Communist nation can feel.” (USA Today )

“This business history discusses one of the most successful global Internet companies, and, to make it even more interesting, it is also a biography of Alibaba’s eccentric founder, the visionary, and entrepreneurial risk take, Jack Ma… [an] accessible inside look at Chinese e-commerce.” (Library Journal )

“The story of how he built his fortune is not well known. Inevitably, Liu Shiying and Martha Avery, the authors of “Alibaba,” tell us as much about how business works in China as about Mr. Ma’s entrepreneurial achievement.” (Wall Street Journal )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness; 1 edition (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006167219X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061672194
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #936,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book about building an internet business in a communist country, May 18, 2009

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D. J Najarian (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: alibaba: The Inside Story Behind Jack Ma and the Creation of the World's Biggest Online Marketplace (Hardcover)

"Alibaba" is the tale of how Jack Ma founded Alibaba group--a privately and publicly held internet commerce conglomerate in China. To my knowledge, there is no comparable company in the US--and perhaps the world...and it is worth reading about how Jack Ma created this business.

Alibaba group comprises several companies, including the Chinese equivalent of Ebay (privately held Taobao), Paypal (privately held Alipay), and it's own unique business to business commerce site: alibaba.com, which is publicly traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange (ticker: 1688:HK), but probably more easily accessible to American shareholders on the pink sheets (ticker: albcf.pk).

Alibaba.com is an important company. It has attracted the attention of famous American investors like Jim Rogers, who reportedly bought into the company during its ipo. Jim Rogers reviews the company in his book "A Bull in China." For those who have never seen what a b to b internet commerce company is--just go to alibaba.com--and take a look! It's fascinating. Alibaba.com offers companies a way to instantly "glance" around the world and find a supplier of choice for any product they may need. Want to find a supplier of shoes in Vietnam--you'll find 88 different entries advertising products. Just for fun, type "spices" into the alibaba.com's search engine, and learn about the world's suppliers of spices. Alibaba.com's most important function is to audit the suppliers (for a price) and bless the trustworthy ones. Global trade and Adam Smith's invisible hand will drive the growth of alibaba.com well into the future.

One lesson to be learned by reading this book: don't compete with alibaba group. Jack Ma has brilliantly cultivated relationships with his government that promise to help shield his company (and other home grown Chinese companies) from foreign competition (e.g. Paypal). Moreover, Jack Ma is willing to "dump" his product on the market to undercut the competition (Taobao charges no fees, allowing taobao to destroy Ebay's franchise in China), and he can wait for years before needing to make a profit. In any case, read this book to learn how business is done in China, where many of the world's most important companies now operate...

addendum: 2/5/10 In the past few months, Alibaba.com has created "AliExpress." Essentially, Alibaba.com is transforming itself into an internet retailer, akin to Amazon.com. Alibaba is now attempting to make money on individual transactions between Chinese wholesalers and purchasers throughout the world, using their own "Alipay" service to mediate the transactions. In 10 years this service will be huge. Look out.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book to learn about Alibaba and Jack Ma, December 28, 2009

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Apellicon - See all my reviews

This review is from: alibaba: The Inside Story Behind Jack Ma and the Creation of the World's Biggest Online Marketplace (Hardcover)

Alibaba is a global leader in business-to-business e-commerce. Its founder Jack Ma is not your typical business executive. For one, he failed multiple times to enter top Chinese Universities. He later utilized his strong english skills to become an english teacher which helped with his transition into business. He was a visionary and saw early on the potential of the internet. He risked big, failed big, but never gave up until he transformed alibaba into a dominant internet company. Visit