Alibaba's cost competitiveness is largely a function of Multiple Choice whether it does a good enough job of benchmarking its value chain activities against the value chains of competitors so that it knows exactly how low to drive its costs in order to be cost-competitive. how efficiently it manages its internally performed value chain activities and the costs in the value chains of its suppliers and forward channel allies. whether it does a better job of building its resource strengths more cost effectively than rivals. whether it possesses more core competencies and competitive capabilities than rivals. how closely its internally performed activities are linked to the activities performed by suppliers and to the activities performed by forward channel allies