Alibaba's world : how a remarkable Chinese company is changing the face of global business

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Title:

Alibaba's world : how a remarkable Chinese company is changing the face of global business

Author:

Erisman, Porter, author.

ISBN:

9781250069870

Physical Description:

x, 242 pages ; 25 cm

Contents:

Introduction: The great leapfrog forward -- The right person: @ the right place @ the right time -- Boom! -- Bust -- The foreign experts -- Alibaba's cave -- Around the world with Jack -- Alibaba's falling carpet -- Back to China -- Last man standing -- Lock up -- War on eBay -- The Google guys -- Crocodile in the Yangtze -- The eBay-Alibaba hotline -- Yahoo! -- The deal heard 'round the world -- The China search wars -- Free is not a business model -- AliMania -- Leaving Alibaba -- Winter -- Spring -- Alibaba's world -- Alibaba and the forty lessons.

Personal Subject:

Ma, Yun, 1964-

Corporate Subject:

Alibaba (Firm)

Subject Term:

Electronic commerce -- China.

Internet marketing -- China.

Summary:

"What is as powerful as Google, more popular than Facebook, and more economically disruptive than Amazon and eBay combined? Alibaba operates the world's biggest online shopping mall, with 600 million registered users (Amazon has roughly 200 million). It executes about 80% of China's e-commerce transactions and generates nearly 70% of all packages in China, making up close to 2% of China's GDP. And its marketplaces include another 60 million small and medium-size business users spread over 200 countries. This Chinese company is poised to make its global debut with an IPO that could be the largest in history. But what is Alibaba? How does it work? And why should we be paying attention? Porter Erisman shows how Jack Ma, a charismatic Chinese schoolteacher, rose from obscurity to revolutionize commerce in China, and now the world. He shares stories of weathering the dotcom crash, facing down eBay and Google, negotiating with the Web-phobic Chinese government, and enduring the misguided advice of foreign experts, all to build the behemoth that's poised to sweep the ecommerce world today. And he analyzes Alibaba's role as a harbinger of the new global business landscape--with its focus on the East rather than the West, emerging markets over developed ones, and the nimble entrepreneur over the industry titan. As we face this near future, the story of Alibaba--and its inevitable descendants--is both essential and instructive"--

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	381.142 ERI	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

**Selected as one of the Best Business Books of 2015 by the Wall Street Journal **

In September 2014, a Chinese company that most Americans had never heard of held the largest IPO in history - bigger than Google, Facebook and Twitter combined. Alibaba, now the world's largest e-commerce company, mostly escaped Western notice for over ten years, while building a customer base more than twice the size of Amazon's, and handling the bulk of e-commerce transactions in China. How did it happen? And what was it like to be along for such a revolutionary ride?

In Alibaba's World , author Porter Erisman, one of Alibaba's first Western employees and its head of international marketing from 2000 to 2008, shows how Jack Ma, a Chinese schoolteacher who twice failed his college entrance exams, rose from obscurity to found Alibaba and lead it from struggling startup to the world's most dominant e-commerce player. He shares stories of weathering the dotcom crash, facing down eBay and Google, negotiating with the unpredictable Chinese government, and enduring the misguided advice of foreign experts, all to build the behemoth that's poised to sweep the ecommerce world today. And he analyzes Alibaba's role as a harbinger of the new global business landscape--with its focus on the East rather than the West, emerging markets over developed ones, and the nimble entrepreneur over the industry titan. As we face this near future, the story of Alibaba--and its inevitable descendants--is both essential and instructive.

Author Notes

Prior to joining Alibaba in 2000, PORTER ERISMAN worked for Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing. From 2000-2008, Porter worked as a Vice President at Alibaba.com and Alibaba Group, at various times leading the company's international website operations, international marketing, and corporate affairs as one of the company's first American employees. He is the writer/director of Crocodile in the Yangtze, an award-winning documentary about the rise of Alibaba and its famous founder, Jack Ma. An expert on ecommerce in emerging markets, he has consulted to ecommerce companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He lives in Shanghai, China.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

When Alibaba went public in September 2014, many Americans first became aware of this international trade behemoth's true size and potential. Erisman's comprehensive account of "how a schoolteacher rose from obscurity to build the world's largest e-commerce company" provides a dizzying look at this company's startling birth, growth, and success. Erisman was an Alibaba v-p from 2000 to 2008, during which time he collected 200 hours of footage for his documentary, Crocodile in the Yangtze; this detail is evident in the book. The star of the story is CEO Jack Ma, an unlikely Internet hero who twice failed his college entrance exams and started an online business when less than 1% of China's population had Internet access. Alibaba began as a message board for companies to post trade leads, later declaring "war on eBay" by creating a rival Internet marketplace, Taobao. Ma went on to purchase Yahoo! China and to work with Google, all while dealing with the Chinese government and the Great Firewall. Within a few years, Alibaba had surpassed Amazon and eBay's sales combined, and by the time of the IPO, it was the largest Internet company in China and the fifth most valuable in the world. This is a fascinating insider's look at the digital opening of China. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Author's Note	p. ix
Introduction: The Great Leapfrog Forward	p. 1
1 The Right Person: @ the Right Place @ the Right Time	p. 7
2 Boom!	p. 15
3 Bust	p. 23
4 The Foreign Experts	p. 25
5 Alibaba's Cave	p. 33
6 Around the World with Jack	p. 39
7 Alibaba's Falling Carpet	p. 43
8 Back to China	p. 47
9 Last Man Standing	p. 55
10 Lock Up	p. 71
11 War on eBay	p. 83
12 The Google Guys	p. 93
13 Crocodile in the Yangtze	p. 103
14 The eBay-Alibaba Hotline	p. 113
15 Yahoo!	p. 125
16 The Deal Heard 'Round the World	p. 137
17 The China Search Wars	p. 155
18 Free Is Not a Business Model	p. 161
19 AliMania	p. 169
20 Leaving Alibaba	p. 173
21 Winter	p. 179
22 Spring	p. 183
23 Alibaba's World	p. 189
24 Alibaba and the Forty Lessons	p. 215
Notes	p. 237
Index	p. 239

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Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

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