Management of Business Telecommunications: A Comparative Study of Alibaba and Honestbee

This research paper examines the role of telecommunications in business by analyzing two organizations: Alibaba Group Holding Limited (a large-scale company) and honestbee (a small-scale company). The paper explores the current and future requirements of both companies, including their history, mission, vision, and global scale. It also delves into risk management strategies, communication practices, and security measures implemented by each organization. By comparing and contrasting these aspects, the paper provides insights into the unique challenges and opportunities faced by businesses of different sizes in managing their telecommunications infrastructure.

CIS8009 –Assignment 1
Management of Business Telecommunications
Student Name-
Student ID-

Table of Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................3
Current requirements of companies........................................................................................................4
Future requirements of companies...........................................................................................................6
Risk management of companies...............................................................................................................7
Management of business...........................................................................................................................9
Communication in companies................................................................................................................11
Security measures in companies.............................................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................14
References................................................................................................................................................15
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Abstract
For any business, telecommunication has a vital role. Telecommunication is essential for business as it
provides companies to better communicate with their customers and produce better deliverables and can
provide better services to their customers. In this assessment, the research paper will include evaluation of
two organizations i.e. one large scale and one small organization. Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a
large-scale company with employee size of about 50100 which provides e-commerce, internet, AI, and
technology services. Whereas honestbee is a small-scale organization with employee size about 180-200
which provides grocery services online.
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Introduction
An industrial research paper is a piece of paper which contains complete information about the industry it
complete details are mentioned are mentioned are in a research paper. In this assignment, the industrial
research paper will be design for two organizations. The organizations will be of two types large-scale
organization and small-scale organization. Alibaba will be taken for the large-scale organization and
honestbee for the small-scale organization. The research paper will include the current requirements,
future requirements of the organization. The current requirements of the organization include history,
mission, and vision of the company. The research paper will also include about the risk management
strategies of both organizations and also contains information about management of the business, how
communication is done in companies and how the security measures are used in both organizations.
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Current requirements of companies
A. Alibaba Group Holding Limited.
1. History of company
The company Alibaba Group Holding Limited was founded on 4 April 1999. The founder of the
Alibaba organization is Jack Ma and Peng Lei. The name of the company comes from an Arabian
literature One Thousand and One Nights. The company was found by 17 members. The first-year
generated revenue of Alibaba organization was 25 million US dollar. Headquarter of the company
is situated in China, Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
2. Mission of company
The mission of the company is to provide the best technology, market, and brands to customers.
The company mission is to help merchants and their customers and provide the best services like
cloud computing, innovation initiatives. The other mission of the company is to provide a secure
payment gateway (Alibaba Group n.d.).
3. Vision of company
The vision of the company is very simple that to help the small merchants and businessman and
can earn profit through marketing and by different technologies (Alibaba Group n.d.).
4. Type of Business
Alibaba has multiple types of business. It handles sales and market, it provides different
technologies, it provides a facility for third-party online payment and a web browser Chinese
Yahoo.
5. The global scale of the company
Alibaba Group Holding Limited is among top multinational companies all over the world. The
company is globally successful. The company has expanded its business in many countries like
India, Korea, London, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Silicon Valley.
6. Company Value statement
The value statement of Alibaba organization is:
a. Always priority to the customer.
b. Excellent teamwork
c. Integrity in the organization.
d. Level of commitment.
e. Passion towards work.
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B. honestbee
1. History of honestbee
The company honestbee was founded on 23 July 2015 in Singapore. The founder of the
company honestbee is Isaac Tay, Jonathan Low, and Joel Sng and get little investment from
Asia and UN (united states). The headquarter of the company is situated in Singapore. The
first-year revenue generated by the company was $87K US dollars.
2. Mission of company
The only mission of the company is to provide the financial and social positive impact on
customers and small business vendors.
3. Vision of company
The main vision of the company is to become world’s most convenient online grocery service
provider and easiest marketplace.
4. Type of business
The services offered by the company honestbee are provided groceries item at the location of
its customers. The customer can purchase an item from its favorite grocery store. The other
services are laundry service, food delivery, and parcel delivery.
5. The global scale of the company
Being a small organization company is slowly expanding in different countries like Hong
Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangkok, Tokyo, Philippines, and Thailand.
6. Company value statement
The company value statement is to make its customer satisfy and provide the best services to
its customers. The other thing is to maintain integrity in work and balance work life cycle and
develop a healthy environment for work.
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Future requirements of companies
Future requirements of any company mean what are the next steps to be taken to expand the business of
the company. Future requirements include the necessary steps to be taken and to work on their CMM
(capability maturity model). A document is created which includes all the current problems and scope of
the problem. Analyst of company analyzes the problem and proposes different solutions to solve the
problem. The future requirements of both small-scale and large-scale companies are mentioned below:
a. Alibaba Group Holding Limited
1. To become the world’s largest e-commerce company.
2. To bring the American products to China and help the small businessman.
3. To expand the business more globally and can take Alibaba in other countries (Eadicicco
2015).
b. Honestbee
1. To become world’s most convenient workplace.
2. To expand the business in other countries also.
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Risk management of companies
Risk management of business means to analyze, identify the risk and jitters in business. Risk management
is done to analyze any loss of business, any investment decisions, and its outcome. Risk management is
dependent on the type of business. If the business is small scale then the risk management strategy is
different for small-scale business and is business is large scale then the risk management steps are
different for large-scale business. The risk management analyzes for large scale and small business are
identified in this section (Gordan n.d.).
A. For Alibaba Holding Private Limited
1. Country risk
Whenever any organization like Alibaba Holding Private Limited do its business globally in
different countries there is always a risk at the time of business transactions. These risks are
occurring due to differences in country economic structure, geography, currencies and
political policies.
2. Financial risk
There is always a financial risk in large-scale organizations like Alibaba Holding private
limited. These risks affect exchange rates, interest rates. The solution to financial risk is to
select a site with low cost for production. Apply a flexible financial policy.
3. Competitive risk
According to Jack Ma Alibaba did not want to compete with any company. The company
only want to help a small businessman in their business but there is always a risk. Other
organizations can try to damage company image by doing cyber-attack, data leak.
4. Resource risk
Resource risk is known as a major risk when company Alibaba is doing its business globally.
In other countries, there can be a shortage of resources like labors and inappropriate
technology. Some countries can have lack of communication technology which can risk to
the data system.
B. Honestbee
1. Human risk
Human risk can make a major impact in a small-scale organization like honestbee because
small-scale business has very less workforce, so it is dependent on its employees. If an
employee is ill or if the employee dies it will affect whole business and can discontinue
company operations.
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2. Equipment or technology risk
In a small-scale company like Honestbee it always has technology risk. The company has not
enough resource, lack of technology. If any technology fails it will affect whole business
because they have lack technology.
3. Internal risk
The internal risk includes company infrastructure problems, high risk of maintenance. The
risk associated with natural disasters. A natural disaster can majorly affect small-scale
business. Risk of cash flow is also included in internal risk.
4. External risk
External risk can affect small-scale business honestbee. The external change includes market
changes if an employee leaves the organization, competitor risk. External risk also includes
the business environment. At the time of business when any laws or policies of the country
changes it affects the whole business. Conflicts among employee can also affect the whole
business.
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Management of business
The management of business means to run a company by controlling, monitoring, leading, organizing and
a better planning. Business management is done to accomplish goals clearly and effectively. The
management of business strategy is different for the small-scale organization and large-scale organization.
Activities involved in the management of the business are:
a. Planning phase
b. Organizing of business
c. Staffing
d. Business direction
e. Controlling of business
For Alibaba Holding Private Limited
a. Planning phase
Planning means to find the future goals and steps how to achieve that goal. For Alibaba, the
planning phase includes how to become world largest e-commerce organization. The steps find
out in this phase.
b. Organization of business
Business organization means to organize the activities in such a manner that the requirements
mentioned in planning phase can be complete. In Alibaba company organization phase includes
organizing technology, task, and people.
c. Staffing
In Alibaba organization, the number of employees working is about 50100. Staffing means to
hire the correct person at the right position. The process of staffing includes selection,
development, and appraisal in an organization.
d. Business direction
The Alibaba organization was founded by 17 members of the team. Jack ma is CEO of the
company. The founders are responsible to guide, instruct and inspire other employees so that
they can give their best and can contribute to the organization.
e. Controlling of business
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The management of an organization is responsible to manage its employees. In Alibaba
organization, the management team is responsible to maintain integrity in the organization and
ensures that all the internal process goes smoothly.
For honestbee
a. Planning phase
Planning phase means to plan for company future and find all the requirements for the future
goal. In a small-scale business like honestbee planning phase is very important because the
company is in its developing phase so planning must be very effective.
b. Organization of business
Organization of business means to design a proper structure that will use to complete the
requirements find out in the planning phase. The organization structure is the body of any
organization. For the honestbee organization of business responsible so that requirements can be
fulfilled.
c. Staffing
Staffing phase is very important as staff size of honestbee is very small of about 180-200. So
staffing needs to be done very efficiently, every employee of the company is very important in
the small-scale company.
d. Business direction
In small-scale business directing the employees is easy as the size of the team is small. In
honestbee, the employee gets information and proper guidance from the management team. The
higher authorities are responsible for motivating, communicating with the employee in the
organization.
e. Controlling of business
In this phase, the analyzation of decision and plans are done to check if everything is done
according to plan or not. For honestbee, the controlling phase includes activities like measuring
efficiency and performance.
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Communication in companies
The study of communication is called organizational communication. Communication within the
organization should be effective to run the organization smoothly. The communication can be categorized
into two categories formal and informal. In large scale business formal communication is useful and in
small-scale business, the communication can be both formal and informal (Gregory 2018).
Communication in Alibaba organization
Alibaba organization is considering as a large-scale business. To communicate with the organization is a
rigid task. The business to business (B2B) communication is used in Alibaba organization. The B2B
communication means when one company sells their products to small-scale companies. Alibaba
organization also do the same thing it helps the small businessman to grow their business. The other way
to communicate is business to consumer (B2C). The business to customer communication means to sell
the products to customers directly.
When an organization works on a large scale it faces various challenges like.
a. Quantity
Whenever any information is shared with the employee it becomes hard to find which
information is important and which information is not.
b. Culture
In a large-scale organization, there is lack of transparency in an organization which leads to a
problem in doing communication.
c. One to one communication
As the size of the organization increases the one to one communication is not possible with every
employee. Every employee does not get proper time to share their problem with higher authority
(Azziz 2013).
Communication in honestbee
Honestbee company was established in 2015. The communication in small-scale business is not as much
a rigid task compare to large-scale business. The small-scale business uses business to consumer
communication. As the size of staff is small communication is easy. The honestbee use informal way of
communication to communicate within the organization.
Steps for communication
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a. Face to face communication
The small-scale company Honestbee use face to face communication instead of using emails.
Most of the communication is done on phone but sometimes it is a disadvantage if all points are
not clear.
b. Customer satisfaction
Small-scale company Honestbee is very focused towards its customer's satisfaction. They try to
provide best services to a customer using business to consumers’ communication.
c. Use customer feedback
As honestbee use B2C communication it uses customer feedback to improve its services. The
effective communication is very important in small-scale business to improve services and
products.
Security measures in companies
Security in the organization means to provide the security to the organization in terms of data security,
firewall protection. Security is very important in small-scale business as well as in large-scale business.
In large scale business security is more important because it has more important information and more
customers.
Security in Alibaba Holding Private Limited
The security measures were taken in Alibaba Holding Private Limited.
a. Firewall protection
The firewall used in large-scale organization Alibaba to protect the internal network from
external affairs. It protects from outside affairs and controls the traffic on the website. The
firewall protection is used to protect the data and information from outsiders. Firewall is used to
filter the traffic according to the protocol (Secureworks 2016).
b. IDS protection
The intrusion detection system is a software application which is used to detect the malicious
activity over the network. And if the system detects the malicious activity the problem is direct to
administrator and to SIEM (Security information and event management). The application is also
used as antivirus application which protects the system from a virus (Amaya 2015).
c. DMZ protection
A demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a physical subnetwork which works as an additional security layer
to organization Alibaba while the other part of Alibaba organization is firewalled. The DMZ
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Provides additional security and finds out the breaches in the organization network. Alibaba uses
two firewall securities to protect the data from external affairs. The first firewall is responsible for
the front end of the website and the second firewall is responsible to protect back-end and to
allow traffic from demilitarized zone (DMZ) to internal network (Goldstein 2018).
d. Tell employee about security policy
In Alibaba organization, the employees get special training about cybersecurity. The training
includes what to do and what to not do in office. And tell the employee about other securities
policy about Alibaba Holding Private Limited.
Security measures in honestbee.
As the honestbee organization is small scale business the security measure taken by the organization are:
a. Two-step authentications
Whenever any new customer sign in the website the website asks users for two-step
authentications. The user enters the contact number the OTP is received to the user and after
entering OTP the user can sign up in the website.
b. Use reliable software
The antivirus software is used in a honestbee organization which is used to protect the system.
The anti-malware application is necessary for honestbee application to defend the system from
unwanted interference.
c. Use firewall
The firewall is also used by the honestbee organization. The firewall is used to control the
network traffic. The firewall is used to protect the website and save by blocking malicious
websites.
d. Complex password
The password is set to complex so that it could not easily be hacked. The hackers will face
problem to hack and find difficult for decipher. The passwords contain alphanumeric characters,
spaces and special characters.
e. Regular backup
Honestbeeusestechnique to create backup regularly so that in case data get corrupted backup can
be used to restore the data. The honestbee us cloud services to create the backup.
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Conclusion
The research paper is successfully designed for the two organizations. The large-scale organization taken
is Alibaba Holding private limited and the small-scale organization used is honestbee. The research paper
contains the complete information about the two organizations. Research paper includes information like
current requirements of organization which includes history of the organization, mission of organization,
vision, type of business and value statements of organization. The paper also includes future plan of
organization. The research paper also contains strategies to manage the risk, how an organization
communicates in organization and how to communicate to customers. In the last section of research
paper, it includes the information about security measures that need to be taken by the organization to
keep secure and safe from external affairs.
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References
 Alibaba Group, n.d., viewed 12 April 2018,<http://www.alibabagroup.com/en/about/overview>.
 Amaya, C 2015, IDS, Firewall and Antivirus: what you need to have installed?, viewed 12 April
2018, < https://www.welivesecurity.com/2015/04/30/ids-firewall-antivirus-need-installed/ >.
 Azziz, R 2013, Meeting the Challenges of Communicating in a Large, Complex
Heterogenous Enterprise, viewed 12 April 2018, <https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-
ricardo-azziz/meeting-the-challenges-of_b_2759662.html >
 Eadicicco, L 2015, Jack Ma reveals his plan for Alibaba's future and why his company is nothing
like Amazon, viewed 12 April 2018, <https://www.businessinsider.in/Jack-Ma-reveals-his-plan-
for-Alibabas-future-and-why-his-company-is-nothing-like-Amazon/articleshow/47606114.cms>.
 Goldstein, P 2018, What Is a DMZ Network and How Can It Improve Your Security?, viewed 12
April 2018, < https://fedtechmagazine.com/article/2017/07/what-dmz-network-and-how-can-it-
improve-your-security >.
 Gordan, J n.d., Managing Risks Associated With a Multinational Corporation, viewed 12 April
2018,<http://smallbusiness.chron.com/managing-risks-associated-multinational-corporation-
78224.html> .
 Gregory, A 2018, 7 Ways to Step up Communication in Your Small Business, viewed 12 April
2018, <https://www.thebalance.com/step-up-communication-2951531>
 Secureworks, 2016, What is firewall security?, viewed 12 April 2018,
<https://www.secureworks.com/blog/firewall-security >.
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