Case Study Analysis: Alibaba's Innovation and Strategy (BIZ301)

This case study analyzes the organizational creativity and innovation of Alibaba Group, a global technology company specializing in e-commerce, internet, retail, and technology. The analysis explores how Alibaba integrates innovation and strategy, including designing strategies based on regional requirements and business environments. It examines Alibaba's innovative approach to identifying customer needs through data intelligence and network coordination. The study highlights the role of 'Smart Business' in Alibaba's success, emphasizing the use of digital data and automated decisions. It also discusses the impact of leaders like Jack Ma on the company, focusing on his persuasive leadership style, vision, and the importance of customer-centricity. The case study references how Alibaba leverages technologies such as data centre cooling, blockchain, machine learning and secure payment systems like Alipay to gain competitive advantage in the global market.

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
1. In the students view, how does innovation and strategy work together at Alibaba
Group?
Alibaba Group, in this context, can be considered as a technology organization from the
state of China and have their presence across the world. They are specialized in e-commerce,
internet, retail and technology (Alibaba.com 2020). The management of this company used
innovative ideas in their overall business operations which includes designing the strategies
according to the requirement of the people in various regions and nature of the business
environment of those particular regions and implementing them. This has resulted in an
extensive growth in the e-commerce business of this globally reputed business firm. The
innovation system is comprised of an ecosystem, where there are both businesses and
consumers of different types who are interacting with one another along with the business
environment, which includes the online platform, through where the people will be able to
utilize the products and services that are sold by this multinational business house. The
strategies that are designed and implemented by the management of this business entity
includes the resources that are required to access and use the online platform, through which
Alibaba are performing their business operations across the whole world. This has led them
to become one of the top 10 most highly valued organizations in current business scenario.
Smart business is followed by the management of this Chinese company, and advancement of
technology is fully used in overall business operations that are performed by this organization
(Rui 2018). Smart business techniques assist this company to adapt the market scenario along
with the business environment, where the requirements of the consumers are ever-increasing
and rapidly changing, apart from gaining the competitive advantage over the rival business
houses like Amazon in context of the global business e-commerce market. They have
separate plans for their separate businesses and this diversification of the strategies help the

2ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
management to target different segments of people separately and satisfying their
requirements successfully (Holmes 2014).
2. Identify the innovation approach the company has successfully used to identify
customers’ needs, and how did it help them to continue to stay ahead of the
competition?
The management of Alibaba Group leverages fresh technologies of data intelligence and
network coordination throughout their business operations that are spread across the world.
The efforts of thousands of business entities from the market place of China are harnessed in
order to develop an ecosystem which is smarter, faster and more efficient than other
traditional business or rival business houses that are present in the global market places where
Alibaba is present. It has been already discussed that the overall innovation system that is
followed by the management of this business entity includes an ecosystem, where there are
both businesses and consumers of various types who are involved in interacting with each
other in the business environment, which includes the online platform. The management are
identifying the needs and wants of the people through this system and purchase the products
and services that are sold by this multinational business house through there e-commerce
platform (Tan et al 2015). This has helped this company to become the leading e-commerce
platform currently and successfully gains the competitive advantage over others who are
present in the global business environment (Bashir and Verma 2017). The strategies that are
designed and implemented by the management of this business entity includes the resources
that are required to access and use the online platform, through which Alibaba are performing
their business operations across the whole world. They are doing so by delivering the product
that are purchased by consumers across the world and satisfying their ever-increasing
demand. Using technologies like datacentre cooling, blockchain and machine learning helps
them to differentiate their services from other e-commerce giants that are present in global e-

3ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
commerce market places (Ter Chian Felix Tan, Tan and Pan 2016). Providing the secured
online payment in the form of Alipay have helped to overcome the problems of secured
online payment system in the market place of China and provide the competitive advantage
over other e-commerce business entities that are present in the Chinese market place
(Geissdoerfer, Vladimirova and Evans 2018).
3. What role does ‘Smart Business’ play in the company’s present success?
Smart business, in this context, can be regarded as the emerging businesses where all the
firms are involved in accomplishing a common business objective or goal, and that is
retailing (Wu and Gereffi 2018). In this technology enabled model, most of the operational
decisions are made by machines and not by humans, and allow the business houses to adapt
to the ever-changing market conditions as well as customer preferences that are changing
dynamically and rapidly in order to gain the competitive advantage over rival business
entities. In this context, it can be said that retail business is one of the most competitive
business sectors among all other business sectors that exist in the global business
environment. The current success that Alibaba enjoys through the e-commerce business are
achieved through digital data and huge computing power, and the automated operating
decisions helps to take decisions faster and smoother, which helps to identify the issues that
are faced by the customers and overcome them as fast as possible (Qin 2017). There are four
steps that are followed in this process, which helps the management of Alibaba Group to gain
the competitive power and sustain in the global e-commerce business platform effectively
and efficiently. These are to record the data for every customer exchange made, software
each and every activity, maintaining the flow of the data and application of the algorithms.
All these steps help in efficient data analysis that are required in the business operations of
this organization. Apart from this, the successful linkage between the buyers and sellers
through the ecosystem that is built by this business house, along with making almost all the

4ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
business operations online, like advertising, logistics, marketing and finance. Advancement in
the area of social media has helped the management of this business house to attract and
engage a greater number of people with them, which also helps to increase the market share
as well as the revenue earning for the company (Osawa 2014).
4. What roles do leaders like Jack Ma play on companies like Alibaba? What does
he bring, personally, to the organisation?
It can be noted in this context that Alibaba was founded in the year 1999 by Jack Ma, and
the globally reputed business entity has recorded a net income of 61.41 billion Yuan, which
amounts to US$9.6 billion approximately till March 2018. This has helped them to be in the
top 10 companies globally. From starting day till September 2019, when Ma retired, the
leadership style that was used by him was persuasive style (Nanjundeswaraswamy and
Swamy 2014). He used this throughout his entire career that was spent from the first day of
Amazon. In this context, it can be stated that persuasive style of management is like the
autocratic style of management. More time was spent by Ma with his peers, colleagues and
subordinates to convince them to adapt with the business decisions that had been made by the
higher management of Alibaba Group. Along with this approach, he efficiently transformed
Alibaba into one of the most earning organizations and the leading company which is
engaged in e-commerce business. Strong sense of character that was possessed by him helped
the organization to build the loyalty along with a strong foundation that has helped to become
one of the top 10 most earning business entities globally. He had the power to see the
business through the eyes of the customers, and followed the mission and vision of this
business house from the viewpoint of the people who is keen to avail the services provided by
the management of Alibaba. All the people were united under a common company goal and
hired people by following the superior skills that was possessed by him. Tenacity and
superior skills are two most vital parts that was brought by Ma in the company of Alibaba

5ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Group. Apart from being a democratic leader, transformational leadership style was followed
by Ma in his entire career in this organization along with visionary and charismatic leadership
style (Iqbal, Anwar and Haider 2015).

6ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Reference
Alibaba Group. (2020). Retrieved 7 March 2020, from
https://www.alibabagroup.com/en/global/home
Bashir, M. and Verma, R., 2017. Why business model innovation is the new competitive
advantage. IUP Journal of Business Strategy, 14(1), p.7.
Geissdoerfer, M., Vladimirova, D. and Evans, S., 2018. Sustainable business model
innovation: A review. Journal of cleaner production, 198, pp.401-416.
Holmes, F., 2014. How Alibaba Could Capitalize on the EBay-PayPal Split. US Global
Investors (USFUNDS).
Iqbal, N., Anwar, S. and Haider, N., 2015. Effect of leadership style on employee
performance. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 5(5), pp.1-6.
Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S. and Swamy, D.R., 2014. Leadership styles. Advances in
management, 7(2), p.57.
Osawa, J., 2014. Alibaba Tackles Amazon, eBay on Home Turf. Wall Street Journal, 11.
Qin, P., 2017. Integration in Chinese e-commerce and public policy concerns: An analysis of
Alibaba Group. Thammasat Review Of Economic And Social Policy, 3(1), p.68.
Rui, W., 2018. Internationalization Strategy of Chinese E-Commerce Firms. The Case of
Alibaba Group.
Tan, B., Pan, S.L., Lu, X. and Huang, L., 2015. The role of IS capabilities in the development
of multi-sided platforms: the digital ecosystem strategy of Alibaba. com. Journal of the
Association for Information Systems, 16(4), p.2.

7ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Ter Chian Felix Tan, Tan, B. and Pan, S.L., 2016. Developing a Leading Digital Multi-sided
Platform: Examining IT Affordances and Competitive Actions in Alibaba. com. CAIS, 38,
p.36.
Wu, X. and Gereffi, G., 2018. Amazon and Alibaba: Internet governance, business models,
and internationalization strategies. International business in the information and digital age,
pp.327-356.
Xiaoyu, S., 2016. THE RESEARCH ON THE APPLICATION OF CHINESE ELECTRIC
BUSINESS MODEL IN THAILAND COMMERCE-ALIBABA AS A CASE STUDY. E–
Proceeding, 2016, p.28.
Yen, B., 2015. Examining the Effects of the Internet of Things (Iot) on E-Commerce: Alibaba
Case Study.