Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built

Erik Berglöf, director of the Institute of Global Affairs at LSE, begun the seminar at SNS with Duncan Clark, author of the book Alibaba, by saying that the book is a story not only about the icon Jack Ma but also one about the development within the e-commerce sector and the Chinese society at large.

The book is a case study of how entrepreneurship within the internet sector has changed, and how we increasingly exchange commodities and money in today’s world economy.

Alibaba’s companies have huge impact on everyday life in China and the rest of the world. Awareness among Chinese people about their consumer rights has increased, and liability and efficiency when it comes to pursuing and delivering products have been improved.

Duncan Clark argued that we can see many examples of the paradigm shift that Alibaba is part of. Alibaba’s e-commerce solution Ali-express, is one of the largest in Russia, without even having an office there. Moreover, even western quality brands are purchased and shipped to doorsteps in China through the company.

The giant in e-commerce today is not a Silicon Valley invention but a Chinese one. Clark claimed that the world can expect more inventions from Jack Ma and Chinese companies that can have global impact and change status quo in the future.