Alibaba was founded in 1999 in Hangzhou by Jack Ma. Today, the company is regarded as one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world, and in 2017, it was named the third Chinese brand with the greatest global presence, surpassed only by Lenovo and Huawei.
However, like most major companies, it was not always this way. In fact, in its early days, Alibaba operated in retail with a focus on B2B (business to business), unlike today, where it has also expanded its focus to include individual consumers.
Company Evolution
In 1999, with a team of 18 people led by Jack Ma, a former English teacher from Hangzhou, the Alibaba Group was born. The team was composed of professionals from diverse areas but shared a common vision: they believed the internet could level the playing field, enabling small businesses to leverage innovation and technology to grow and compete more fairly in the economy.
At that time, China did not have a significant presence in the global market, so one of the group’s primary goals was to promote this integration. The company expanded, and to compete with rivals like eBay, it created Alipay, a payment system that later evolved into the current Ant Payment. Without a doubt, this was considered a milestone, allowing the company to accelerate its growth.
Recently, as a way to decentralize and streamline decision-making, the group was divided into six business units: Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, Local Services Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics, Global Digital Commerce Group, and Digital Media and Entertainment Group.
Alibaba Lessons to Learn from the Alibaba Group
This exponential growth and global visibility have led many to seek inspiration in Alibaba’s practices and business model. After all, it’s always important to study successful companies and consider what lessons we can apply to our daily practices and businesses.
1) Know, Understand, and Value Your Customers: When he was young, Jack Ma worked as a tour guide, which taught him that a business cannot thrive without customers who believe in its potential and invest in it.
For him, the core of a company’s concerns and its value chain must focus on generating value for the customer so the business can grow organically and thrive more and more.
And it’s not only Jack Ma who believes in the importance of the customer; many companies are already focusing on the customer experience. This focus has been the subject of several webinars by Interact in partnership with the brand’s Ambassador, Gart Capote.
Suggested readings to delve deeper into this topic:
Webinar BPM in the Era of Experiênce-Centricity with Gart Capote
What is the relationship between BPM and Customer Experience?
Process Automation and Customer Experience
The Customer Journey integrated into the process formalization routine
2) Data Management: The group of companies is considered one of the pioneers in big data and artificial intelligence for the collection and analysis of data aimed at predicting consumer needs.
Activities such as analyzing purchasing patterns and user behavior are part of its daily routine, making it an intelligent company that leverages data to its advantage, both in customer service and in its internal processes, such as logistics, for example.
Data management also makes decision-making more agile and efficient; it is no surprise that Alibaba recognized the importance of data as a strategically vital asset.
Suggested readings to delve deeper into this topic:
How Does Data Management Work in Your Company?
Tips for Integrating AI into Your Routine
Information Security in the Current Scenario
3) Process Automation: Alibaba has chosen to automate all operational decisions to make the business increasingly intelligent and agile, enhancing the experience for both employees and customers. Similarly, automation in organizational processes allows employees to stop wasting time on tasks that can be performed by AI or automation, enabling them to focus on what truly matters.
To facilitate this automation, it is essential to capture data from all transactions, convert activities into software, or rely on a system capable of performing the automations, ensuring data flows effectively, and, importantly, applying algorithms.
In the case of Alibaba, activities such as demand forecasting, automatic replenishment, product segmentation, and anomaly detection are already automated.
Read more about process automation:
6 steps to optimize your organization’s processes
4) Culture of Innovation: Few companies implement a culture of innovation as effectively as Alibaba, which is constantly redefining the boundaries of what is possible in the digital world.
Establishing and maintaining an organizational culture focused on innovation can indeed be a challenge; however, it will enable the team to learn and adapt to market changes more quickly and efficiently.
For this to happen, it is essential to have leadership that encourages employees and maintains a certain tolerance for failure. After all, achieving success often requires learning from mistakes.
Read more about related topics:
The Power of Organizational Culture
Competency Management: Nurturing Talents and Attaining Goals!
5 books on innovation to transform your career
Author:
Bianca Wermann
Journalist, Communication and Marketing Analyst at Interact Solutions.
