Ma Yun, or as more commonly known, Jack Ma, is founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group. Alibaba is China's largest e-commerce platform, similar to eBay, but with over eight times the gross merchandise volume and 3.5 times more annual active buyers. The story of Jack Ma's rise from rags to riches is inspirational, in his home country and beyond. The former English teacher is known for stories such as getting rejected from Harvard University 10 times and being denied employment in his local KFC restaurant. In the 1990s, Ma visited the United States and learned about the internet. After two failed attempts, in his living room surrounded by 17 of his friends (who invested in his business), he founded Alibaba. As an entrepreneur, Ma is known for his showmanship on behalf of his company. He would travel China presenting road shows and speak to business owners about the benefits of e-commerce. He also infused his business with the power of his personality. When interacting with potential investors, instead of sharing detailed business plans, he chose to share his vision and his story. He found success with this method, receiving $40 million from Softbank soon after Alibaba was established. Before stepping down from his position, he would host an annual event called Ali Day, which celebrated the company's accomplishments and the contributions of the Alibaba employees, often referred to as Aliren. Alibaba benefited greatly from being insulated from foreign competition, as a result of the Chinese government's policies and Ma's close relations with the local governments. Porter Erisman, a former VP at Alibaba, notes, "We did everything we could to highlight those aspects of our business that were aligned with the goals of Chinese government leaders." In a similar tone, Ma arranged a meeting in Washington, with industry leaders and newly elected President Trump to demonstrate how Alibaba could connect U.S. sellers with Chinese consumers and create jobs in the U.S. In his interactions with his own staff, Ma is quoted as saying, "At first, I knew nothing about management. But the thing is, you don't have to know a lot of things. You have to find the people who are smarter than you are. For so many years, I always tried to find the people smarter than I am." He argues that a leader should not compare his skills with those of his employees. Ma cautions entrepreneurs against aggressive competition and seeing everyone as an enemy. "A real businessman or entrepreneur has no enemies," he states. Instead, competition is similar to chess, and if you lose, you can always play another round. At the same time, his approach to his competitors is not without controversy. As an example, for a time, Yahoo and Softbank owned partial stakes in Alibaba. At that time, the company owned and was using Alipay, an electronic payment system for Alibaba purchases. In 2011, Ma quietly moved Alipay out of Alibaba and into a company that he owned the majority stakes in. Ma explained this decision by referring to a recent governmental rule change relating to payment services and their ownership by foreign entities, but Yahoo and shareholders were not pleased, as they owned 40% of the company. All of a sudden, they felt they had lost a major asset and the explanation Ma provided was not fully satisfactory. Alibaba and Yahoo eventually resolved their dispute via a financial settlement. Alipay later became Ant Financial, which is now one of the most valuable private technology companies in the world.

Questions

1. Would you consider Jack Ma politically savvy? Why or why not?
2. Which political tactics were described in the case?
3. Do you believe that Ma’s decision to move Alipay out of Alibaba to ensure legal compliance was ethical? Was this a good business decision? What do you think he could have done instead?
4. What are the sources of power for Jack Ma’s leadership style?
5. Based on the case, what are your conclusions relating to the power of connections and relationships?

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Multimedia Extension-The Incredible Rise of Jack Ma View in the online reader Bloomberg Asia's Richest Man