Jack Ma
Jack Ma remains one of the major businessmen in the world whose impact has been experienced across different markets. The effect that Jack Ma has had in the world economy is an important consideration, especially given his history and the strategies that influenced the growth of his business. The influence of an entrepreneur is tied to his or her ability to perceive and pursue defined opportunities towards achieving a given goal.
Different factors have been considered in the definition of a good entrepreneur, and it is necessary to evaluate the influence and impact of an entrepreneur belong to these lines. Jack ma is a renowned entrepreneur whose impact has led to the emergence of different changes in the global markets.
Life history
Born in 1964, Jack Ma’s determination was evident from a young age, where his desire to learn English saw him interact with different English speakers (Lee & Song, 2016). The impact of his interactions was enhanced by his role as a personal tour guide for the various western tourists with whom he interacted as a tour guide (Glowik, 2017). Jack Ma was not considered a bright student, and he struggled to join college, where he tried out for four years and got successful in the third attempt. Jack Ma attended Hangzhou Normal University and got his bachelor degree with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1988 (Watters, 2016). His leadership skills were already evident as a student where he was a member of the student council.
He would later further his studies, and he became a lecturer of English and international trade (Lee & Song, 2016). He worked at Hangzhou Dianzi University for a brief stint until 1993 before he founded his own company in 1994 (Glowik, 2017).
An essential element in the story of Jack ma is the number of rejections that he faced in his life as a young man. For instance, he failed his middle school examinations three times; he failed the university entrance examinations thrice and was rejected by Harvard ten times (Glowik, 2017). The rejection continued even after university, where he a-plied over 30 times for jobs and got rejected every time. A sad occurrence was the rejection at the newly launched KFC in China, where he was the only applicant who got dismissed out of a total of 24 applicants (Kim, 2018). The failure further extended to his two next business ventures, although the entrepreneurial spirit in his was more durable than the pain of these failures.
The birth of his business
A timely visit to the United States introduced Jack Ma to the power of the internet, which he found fascinating. He was a representative of the Chinese government in a project of building highways. His interaction with the internet spurred the spirit to create something that would also get to the Chinese market (Lee & Song, 2016). His attempt to search for china on the internet yielded almost no result, and this prompted the need to increase the reach of the internet in china through different avenues (Watters, 2016). Together with his friends, jack created a website that was linked to China, and the impact was immediate as the site attracted so much attention from different investors who were interested in knowing about the person behind the site. Having realized the increasing demand on the internet, Jack teamed up with Yibing, a computer teacher, and they started another company with a domain name registered in the United States (Glowik, 2017). The company made close to a million dollars in three years. This was a considerable success at the time.
Alibaba was founded in collaboration with his friends, and the company started performing very well in the local market. Later, they started making plans of expanding operations to other countries closer to China and with time, they expanded to the western continent. In 1999, and 2000, Alibaba won foreign venture capital amounting to $25 million for a program aimed at enhancing the e-commerce environment in China (Barczyk et al., 2011). The targeting of Chinese businesses was an essential aspect of these platforms that sought to enhance the performance of local companies while developing better approaches to the local economy. The production of Alibaba was significant in the following years, and Ee & Yazdanifard (2015) cite that in 2014, Alibaba raised $25b billion worth IPO in the New York Stock Exchange. This is a reflection of the vital business strategies that were adopted at Alibaba that facilitated the achievement of such performances.
Apart from Alibaba, Jack Ma’s business acumen led him to create other companies such as Taobao, Ali Mama, and Lynx (Barczyk et al., 2010). These companies perform so well that they also attracted different investors. For instance, eBay offered to buy out Taobao although Jack rejected the offer and his decision earned him an investment from Jerry Yang who ploughed in $1 billion into the company (Lee & Song, 2016). By the year 2014, Alibaba was classified among the most valuable technology companies in the globe, having had the most extensive initial public offering in the history of the United States (Micklethwait & Dimond, 2017). All the companies that were founded by Jack Ma have been grouped under the umbrella of Alibaba Group which manages Alibaba. Com, Tmall, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, 1688.com, Alipay and AliExpress.com (Micklethwait & Dimond, 2017).
The entrepreneurial spirit that Jack Ma espouses is hinged on vital elements that reflect the key issues that every entrepreneur should consider. One of the significant lessons from jack Ma is the necessity of commitment and determination. His life is s depiction of a high level of zeal that every entrepreneur should consider having as a means of increasing the likelihood of success in business. Kim (2018) notes that Jack Ma is an epitome of determination from his early life to the business management efforts he has had. He struggled to learn English, to the point of becoming a part-time tour guide to allow him to interact with more English speakers (Kuo & Dahir, 2017). The drive that pushed him to undertake these actions was an essential element in the development of his personality as a businessman. The different rejections that he faced did not deter the need to try again (Micklethwait & Dimond, 2017). Rejections from job applications, failures in examinations and even the collapse of the two initial ventures did not kill the spirit that often pushed him to his limits.
The value of any entrepreneur is tied to the role that he plays in the market. According to Watters (2016), an entrepreneur must identify an opportunity and a need in the market. The opportunity to actualize a dream is the most critical chance that every entrepreneur needs to start and succeed in his business. For instance, Jack Ma identified the potential of the internet in defining business dynamics (Lee & Song, 2016). His argument was the ease of business and the different avenues through which the local markets could maximize the presence of the internet as a vital tool. This opportunity defined the business model for Alibaba where all smaller business were required to pay certification fees before they could be allowed to become sellers on the Alibaba platforms (Kuo & Dahir, 2017). This was a better approach compared to the business-consumer method that was being used in the traditional markets. The platform also offered opportunities for this business to sell to other markets outside the country.
A second opportunity that Jack ma exploited was the glaring weakness that marked the business model of eBay-EachNet. eBay-EachNet relied on charging their users transaction fees, and this was the weak link that Jack Ma exploited where he offered similar services but without the transaction fees (Glowik, 2017). This was a great move that saw the change of loyalty of most consumers who fell for the favourable offer from Alibaba. Jack ma also diversified Taobao into three areas which include the marketplace for individual sellers and buyers, Taobao Mall which was an online shopping market and eTao which was a search engine for shoppers (Glowik, 2017). The ability of an entrepreneur to identify weak areas in the market and exploit these opportunities highlights a crucial quality that also enhances the probability of success of the given entrepreneur.
One of the essential lessons that Jack Ma has often shared is the need to “learn from the competitor but not copying the competitor (Lee & Song, 2016)”. This is a critical nugget that reflects the performance of the Alibaba Group as a significant technological company in the world. The business model that Jack Ma has built maximizes the available opportunities while relying on the available resources towards addressing the needs of the community. The success of any business is hinged on the ability of the given activity to address the needs of the market (Kim et al., 2016). Jack Ma sought to eradicate the transaction fees as a means of increasing access to the Alibaba platform and tried to earn more from the advertisements on these sites. The business relied on the increasing numbers of users in creating a broader audience that would attract more advertisers and companies.
An entrepreneur must identify an opportunity and establish the means of addressing and maximizing on these opportunities. Jack Ma’s success is a reflection of the careful observation of the business world to identify the glaring gaps and the best responses.
Jack Ma’s success is also in the philanthropic activities that he engages in as a way of giving back to society. Even in the wake of the current pandemic across the globe, his efforts to help the world have been significant. Jack Ma is an entrepreneur worth admiring in the world of commerce for his tenacity and determination for success.