Question
Alibaba
Questions
https://hbr.org/2018/09/alibaba-and-the-future-of- business
Digital
on page 11,
“These four steps are the basis for creating a smart business: Engage in creative datafication to enrich the pool of data the business uses to becomesmarter; software the business to put workflows and essential actors online; institute standards and APIs to enable real-time data flow and coordination; and apply machine-learning algorithms to generate “smart”business decisions. All the activities involved in the four steps are important newcompetencies that require a new kind of leadership.”
How did alibaba and ANT Financials use digital (from the case) to augment the business (the how)?
·From a Transformation Champion perspective, please describe how the above 4 steps brought value to the different BMC blocks.
Leadership
on page 11,
“Unlike GE, Toyota, and CitiGroup, which deliver products
or
services through optimized supply chains, digital
companies must mobilize a network to
realize their vision. To do that, their leaders have
to inspire the employees, partners, and
customers who make up that network. They must be visionaries
and evangelists, outspoken in a way
that the leaders of traditional companies do not have to be.”
How did alibaba and ANT Financials use leadership (from the case) to augment the business (the how)?
Important leadership traits of the Transformation Champion are being a visionary,
and evangelist.
· Please describe
o visionary
o evangelist
· Please use all
examples from the case to describe how those 3 traits helped Jack Ma (the transformation champion) to bring value to
the different BMC blocks (mapping of traits and
actions to the different blocks)?
Expert Solution
Question 1 - Digital
How did Alibaba and ANT officials use digital to augment the
business?
Alibaba has
adopted creative datafication by adopting a data-driven network of marketers,
sellers, logistic companies, manufacturers, and sellers. ANT uses the collected
data from the sellers to process their loans because it offers information on
the interest rates, eligibility for borrowing, and how much the company can
lend to the seller (Zeng, 2018). The company uses machine learning algorithms
to analyze transaction data to determine a business's success, its offerings'
competitiveness, and its partners' credit scores. The company software the
business as technology advanced by moving more business functions online,
including marketing, logistics, advertising, finance, affiliate marketing,
social media influencing, and product recommenders. This way, it helped develop
new online businesses, reinventing the retail sector in China (Zeng, 2018).
Finally, Alibaba's Taobao integrates standards and APIs as its recommendation
engines must work with the sellers' inventory management systems and consumer
profiling systems of several social media platforms. APIs and communication
standards are thus vital in ensuring data flow while restricting access and
editing.
Question 2 – Leadership
How did Alibaba and ANT Financials use leadership to augment the
business?
A transformation
champion must be an evangelist and a visionary. In this regard, being visionary
means anticipating the coming opportunities and challenges, identifying trend
patterns and interpreting how they may impact the future, and giving a justification
for present decisions concerning the future's vision (Zeng, 2018). In contrast,
being an evangelist means getting people to follow one's lead when taking
charge and relentlessly driving the vision to completion. From the case, Jack
Ma and the management team met to discuss strategies where their disjointed
perceptions and ideas regarding e-commerce joined to create one big picture
(Zeng, 2018). The company also developed a vision to foster the creation of a
coordinated, open, and prosperous e-commerce system. Through this vision, the
company mapped out the future and adapted the company to evolve in response to
economic, societal, and technological changes. Additionally, the company
identified the right incentive structure to persuade companies to share their
data which helped in pattern identification during data analysis (Zeng, 2018).
Finally, Jack Ma inspired employees, customers, and partners who form part of
the company's network by providing them with the resources they need to make
their online businesses successful.
References
Zeng. (2018, August 21). Everything
Alibaba does differently — and better. Harvard Business Review.
https://hbr.org/2018/09/alibaba-and-the-future-of-business
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