Alibaba in the global e-commerce market

Can Alibaba compete in" rel="nofollow">in the global e-commerce market? 1. CASE QUESTION Founded in" rel="nofollow">in 1999, Alibaba Group has quickly emerged as the largest Chin" rel="nofollow">inese ecommerce company and transactions on its onlin" rel="nofollow">ine sites totalled US$248 billion in" rel="nofollow">in 2014, more than those of eBay and Amazon.com combin" rel="nofollow">ined. The company primary operates in" rel="nofollow">in Chin" rel="nofollow">ina and provides C2C (consumer-to-consumer), B2C (busin" rel="nofollow">iness-toconsumer) and B2B (busin" rel="nofollow">iness-to-busin" rel="nofollow">iness) sales services via web portals. With its’ IPO (in" rel="nofollow">initial public offerin" rel="nofollow">ing) on NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) in" rel="nofollow">in September 2014, the company is expandin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">into the global e-commerce market. Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do busin" rel="nofollow">iness anywhere. As Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma said at the World Economic Forum in" rel="nofollow">in Davos 2015, he wants Alibaba’s onlin" rel="nofollow">ine platforms to serve 2 billion consumers all over the world, while helpin" rel="nofollow">ing 10 million small busin" rel="nofollow">inesses outside of Chin" rel="nofollow">ina sell in" rel="nofollow">into global markets. Questions: How Alibaba Group has made it easy to do busin" rel="nofollow">iness in" rel="nofollow">in Chin" rel="nofollow">ina and achieved a great success? Can the company replicate its Chin" rel="nofollow">ina strategies elsewhere as it expands in" rel="nofollow">into other countries and achieve competitive advantages in" rel="nofollow">in the global ecommerce market? Search in" rel="nofollow">information (e.g. newspapers and other media outlets) relevant to the case and answer the case questions through reference to relevant theoretical concepts and frameworks in" rel="nofollow">introduced in" rel="nofollow">in the lecture program. 2. Assignment should in" rel="nofollow">include some of the theories listed below: -International busin" rel="nofollow">iness strategy, e.g FPI FDI, in" rel="nofollow">international corporate governance, in" rel="nofollow">international busin" rel="nofollow">iness ethics, RBV, sustain" rel="nofollow">inable competitive advantages, BPO, EDI -Michael porter five forces competition -contracts -transaction cost -transaction specific in" rel="nofollow">investment -vertical/horizontal in" rel="nofollow">integration -in" rel="nofollow">international alliances & tapered in" rel="nofollow">integration -trust (process based, charcter based, in" rel="nofollow">institution based) - The dynamics of MNE growth – A) sequential in" rel="nofollow">internationalization • stages model • geographic expansion • diversification • functional migration – B) accelerated in" rel="nofollow">internationalization • corporate venturin" rel="nofollow">ing • entrepreneur start-ups