But isn't that how all great empires are built? No one starts out knowing how one plus one equals two.One thing highly successful people do is dream big, start small no matter the lack of resources, and then keep improving over time.

Alibaba: Keep Improving Overtime

A great mark of success is that you never stop learning.

Jack Ma's experience growing up had a tremendous impact on his life and career.He grew up as a poor Chinese boy who had a hard time understanding maths. Because of this, he had to write the pre–college examination severally, but his persistence later won. It's not a surprise that Jack Ma did incredibly well in his studies.Jack Ma concluded his studies and began his teaching career, then later began creating a business out of his skill.Very few companies carry the personalities (commitment and persistence) of their founders, and Alibaba is one of them.

The Founder: Jack Ma

You will never have enough money or have a complete business blueprint. Start where you are, make mistakes, but quickly learn from them.

We learn from Jack Ma about dreams is:<ol><li>You can never go beyond them. If you dream small, you will indefinitely put in small effort and that will lead to small achievements. But big dreams will inspire you to break limits.</li><li>Start where you are, with the experience and resources that you've got. He knows he couldn’t focus on large business such as Sillicon Valley companies so, he refused to be.</li><li>Do not copy your competitors because you don't know the whole story. Find what works for you and stick to it.</li></ol>

Lessons About Dreaming Big

In the beginning, Alibaba was B2B platform, but after a while, the business stopped bringing much profit. On the basis of that and a few other reasons, Jack Ma decided it was time to branch into consumer e-commerce.Jack Ma's strategies:<ol><li>The element of surprise and doing it underground.</li><li>Doing things differently (pricing and communication). eBay charged merchants some amount for product listing, whereas Taobao made it free for anyone to put up their product or service on the site.</li></ol>With these added advantages, it was a matter of time before Taobao kicked eBay out of China and dominated the market.

Dare To Change And Compete

Every big business starts with a dream on paper, and so does Alibaba.

Nothing Is Impossible

<ol><li>The e–commerce edge: Alibaba have several websites, but the most popular ones used for e–commerce are Taobao (marketplace) and Tmall (curated market).</li><li>The logistics edge: Nothing makes e–commerce more reliable than a quick and efficient delivery system. Alibaba and the top 3 delivery companies — STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express partnered to invest in a firm called China Smart Logistics.</li><li>The financial edge: Trust is a big deal in online transactions. They came up with Alipay, a PayPal substitute. Alipay is now by far the most popular online payment tool in China.</li></ol>

Alibaba’s 3 Competitive Edges

When you venture into a business that is not common, you will have difficulty making progress. This is because people can seldom tell the value of your product or service. The bottom line is, people will never do business with you when they can't see how it will positively affect their lives.If you find yourself in such a situation, the only way out is to invest massively in awareness campaigns. That’s what Jack Ma did.

Awareness Is The Key Success

Learn how Alibaba and Jack Ma do it differently and dominate the market.

In just a decade and half Jack Ma, a man who rose from humble beginnings and started his career as an English teacher, founded and built Alibaba into the second largest Internet company in the world. The company’s $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the world’s largest, valuing the company more than Facebook or Coca Cola. Alibaba today runs the e-commerce services that hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend on every day, providing employment and income for tens of millions more. A Rockefeller of his age, Jack has become an icon for the country’s booming private sector, and as the face of the new, consumerist China is courted by heads of state and CEOs from around the world. Granted unprecedented access to a wealth of new material including exclusive interviews, Clark draws on his own first-hand experience of key figures integral to Alibaba’s rise to create an authoritative, compelling narrative account of how Alibaba and its charismatic creator have transformed the way that Chinese exercise their new found economic freedom, inspiring entrepreneurs around the world and infuriating others, turning the tables on the Silicon Valley giants who have tried to stand in his way. Duncan explores vital questions about the company’s past, present, and future: How, from such unremarkable origins, did Jack Ma build Alibaba? What explains his relentless drive and his ability to outsmart his competitors? With over 80% of China’s e-commerce market, how long can the company hope to maintain its dominance? As the company sets its sights on the country’s financial and media markets, are there limits to Alibaba’s ambitions, or will the Chinese government act to curtail them? And as it set up shop from LA and San Francisco to Seattle, how will Alibaba grow its presence and investments in the US and other international markets? Clark tells Alibaba’s tale within the wider story of China’s economic explosion—the rise of the private sector and the expansion of Internet usage—that haver powered the country’s rise to become the world’s second largest economy and largest Internet population, twice the size of the United States. He also explores the political and social context for these momentous changes. An expert insider with unrivaled connections, Clark has a deep understanding of Chinese business mindset. He illuminates an unlikely corporate titan as never before, and examines the key role his company has played in transforming China while increasing its power and presence worldwide.

DUNCAN CLARK

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