Alibaba - The House that Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark: Building a giant
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\nAbout the Author
\nFounder, investor and leading advisor on China\u2019s dynamic technology and consumer sectors, Duncan is a recognized expert on the Internet and entrepreneurship in China. He has lived and worked in Beijing and Shanghai for more than 20 years.
\nEnglish by HarperCollins, \u2018Alibaba\u2019 was named a Book of the Year by The Economist magazine and short-listed for \u2018Business Book of the Year\u2019 by the Financial Times/McKinsey.
\nDuncan is chairman of\xa0BDA China, a company he founded in 1994\xa0after\xa0working as an\xa0investment banker with Morgan Stanley\xa0in London and Hong Kong.
\nDuncan is a Visiting Senior Fellow of the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics; and a former Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. He previously served as Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, and was awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to UK-China trade and investment.
\nA UK citizen raised in the UK, US and France, Duncan is a graduate of the London School of Economics.
\nSource:\xa0https://www.duncanclark.com/biography
\nClick here to buy on The Book Depository
\nhttps://www.bookdepository.com/Alibaba/9780062413413/?a_aid=stephsbookshelf
\nAbout the Book
\nAlibaba \u2013 The House that Jack Ma Built is an engrossing, insider\u2019s account of how a teacher built one of the world\u2019s most valuable companies\u2014rivalling Walmart & Amazon\u2014and forever reshaped the global economy.
\nIn just a decade and half Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded and built Alibaba into one of the world\u2019s largest companies, an e- commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba\u2019s $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever.
\nClark tells Alibaba\u2019s tale in the context of China\u2019s momentous economic and social changes, illuminating an unlikely corporate titan as never before.
\nLinks
\nSource:\xa0https://www.duncanclark.com/publications
\nBIG IDEA 1 (3:01) \u2013 Find mentors who can correct your mistakes.
\nIn his early age, Jack wanted to learn English so he can communicate better and understand things that are coming in from outside of China. He would wait outside hotels and offer tours of his hometown \u2013 showing great initiative.
\nDuring the time of his life, he met the Morley family from Australia whom he became very close with. He started to write with them and Ken Morley would send a letter back to him with corrected grammar and spelling to help him improve his English.
\nJack credits a lot of his success to his English skills, particularly developed them early in his life. Ken Morley had a huge impact on him because he helped him nurture his English. Ken also funded part of Jack\u2019s University fees and his first apartment.
\nMentors can also be fictional. Jack\u2019s love of the warrior\xa0Feng\xa0Qingyang from Jing Yong\u2019s books gave him a lot of inspiration. During some of the trials and tribulations of building Alibaba and some of the surrounding companies, he would look back in Jing Yong\u2019s books to find some strengths from the warriors. This helped him carry on and make the right decisions and sometimes correct his paths.
\nBIG IDEA 2 (4:36) \u2013 Timing is everything.
\nIf you\u2019ve listened to last week\u2019s episode The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, the book says that timing (or luck) can be everything, in particular when you\u2019re born. In Jack Ma\u2019s case, he is one of the first web users in his district and therefore in China. He benefited from a trifecta of events that happened around the same time including the relaxing of China\u2019s entrepreneurial laws, the dawn of the internet and the rise of home computers.
\nThis perfect storm was multiplied by his knowledge in English, allowing him to make the most of the opportunity when China opened up to the rest of the world. So it\u2019s a little bit of luck, but knowing what to do with that luck is even more important.
\nThis was what happened to Jack. He persevered to learn computers and learn how to connect different places, learn marketing, find customers. He also tried to target people who will be interested in connecting the rest of the world with China.
\nThere is no textbook for you to follow when you\u2019re in these kinds of unchartered waters, but perseverance and initiative are a big factor. Jack showed a lot of initiative in working it out as he went. This means also connecting with people at the time when it wasn\u2019t easy. He made visits to the US during this time to see what other people are doing, to help him move his ideas forward.
\nBIG IDEA 3 \u2013 (6:36) \u2013 Health and happiness.
\nJack takes employee well-being very seriously. For example during the SARS outbreak, they supported their employees working from home. He is also well-known for rallying the troops for good and towards a purpose.
\nHe sends inspirational messages to his staff to bring them together and unite them across the purpose for good that Alibaba is striving towards. Investing and lobbying for better environmental management and health care.
\nThroughout the book you can also see the importance of loyalty and friendships. Many of the people involved in building Alibaba\u2019s website and infrastructure around the Alibaba\u2019s idea are still involved in the management capacity.
\nIf you liked this episode \u2013 Alibaba \u2013 The House that Jack Ma Built\xa0you will also like;
\n\n\nMusic By:\xa0\xa0SnowJah (ft. Tane) Song byPeter Spacey
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