Alibaba creator Jack Ma deviates from Amazon model, despite comparisons (2024)

FAQs

Alibaba creator Jack Ma deviates from Amazon model, despite comparisons? ›

In fact, Ma argues that third-party sellers are the foundation of Alibaba, which he contrasts to Amazon, which has incorporated third party sellers only over time while incorporating stringent policy rules to ensure they meet Amazon's quality of service standards.

Alibaba vs Amazon: What's the Difference? Alibaba is for business-to-business transactions, and Amazon is for business-to-consumer transactions. While the two platforms are often compared due to their dominance in the ecommerce industry, they have significant differences.

Alibaba, while also international, has a more significant focus on China, the world's largest manufacturing hub. It caters extensively to the Chinese domestic market and helps international businesses source products from Chinese manufacturers.

Jack Ma saw an opportunity to create a platform that would level the playing field and give small businesses the tools they needed to compete with larger companies. Alibaba started small, with a group of 18 people working out of Jack Ma's apartment in Hangzhou, China.

Furthermore, Amazon's vertically integrated business model has enabled it to create its own products. Amazon has created its own line of products, such as the Amazon Echo and Amazon Fire TV. This integration enables Amazon to control the production process and ensure that its products meet the needs of its customers.

Amazon and Alibaba operate different business models. Let's compare Amazon and Alibaba's business models. While Amazon has built its own logistics network, Alibaba simply connects buyers and sellers. Alibaba does not have its own logistics network and does not resell its own inventory.

Differences Between Alibaba & Amazon

The main difference between Alibaba and Amazon is the audience – while Amazon serves consumers, Alibaba serves businesses. Amazon does have a B2B marketplace called Amazon Business, but it's mostly known for its consumer offerings.

Social responsibility. On 7 August 2021, Alibaba fired a manager who admitted to "indecent acts" with an inebriated employee. The case highlighted issues of sexual harassment in the workplace.

What's interesting about the Alibaba Group sites is that they cover nearly every step of online trading. Because of this, the company is at the forefront of not only e-commerce, but finance, logistics, and artificial intelligence.

Granted, most of the company's decline in profit was due to "mark to market" charges taken to account for the declining value of some of the company's equity investments. But those were still losses -- bad bets made by Alibaba in weak businesses, and opportunities to invest that money better that were lost by Alibaba.

Why did Jack Ma leave Alibaba? ›

In September 2018, Ma started the Jack Ma Foundation and announced that he would retire from Alibaba to pursue educational work, philanthropy, and environmental causes. In 2019, Forbes named Ma in its list of "Asia's 2019 Heroes of Philanthropy" and awarded him the Malcolm S.

Ma stepped down as CEO and chairman of the company years ago and retains no executive role anymore. He isn't even on the board of the company although he remains a major shareholder with a stake of 3.7 percent.

Ma, who stepped down as the company's executive chairman in 2019 but remains a major shareholder, bought $50 million worth of Hong Kong-traded stock in the quarter, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. (Both men already hold sizable amounts of Alibaba stock.)

Apple. Apple has used the vertical integration strategy for 35 years and is one of the most successful companies in the technology industry. Apple centered its business strategy on its own development of integrated hardware, software, and latterly services.

Spearheaded by Elon Musk, Tesla has not just revolutionized the automotive industry but also provided a masterclass in vertical integration. In a world where supply chains have gone from being long and slow to short and agile, Tesla controls almost every facet of production.

If a supplier is trying to sell brand products on Alibaba, chances are that the product is fake. Branded electronic products are usually sold through official company channels and therefore, items that you see on Alibaba are probably knock-offs.

Amazon laid the cornerstone in 1995 as an online bookstore whereas Alibaba started off its venture in 1999, nearly five years after Amazon's founding.

There's little to say about the size and importance of China's Alibaba, an empire built by copying successful US models such as eBay, Amazon, PayPal, Groupon, etc., and adapting them to a market that aside from being the world's largest, is conveniently protected from international competition.

Yes, anyone can buy from Alibaba. Whether you're an individual or a company that wants to import from China, you can order for products directly from manufacturers on Alibaba. The website essentially serves as an Internet directory where anyone can contact and buy directly from manufacturers.