What is the Difference between Amazon and Alibaba?

At the World Economic Forum Jack Ma, Chairman of Alibaba, explained the differences in business models and thinking between Amazon and his company: for him it is Empire vs Eco-System.

According to Ma, Amazon has built an empire and wants to control more or less the whole value chain itself. Alibaba on the other hand has created an eco-system. It wants to enable lots of partners to earn lots of money and only provides the core systems by itself. For him it is a more efficient way to grow very fast.

Andrew Ross Sorkin, the moderator, asked Jack Ma a very Western question: “Which model is the right one?” And he gave a very Chinese answer: “Probably both. A world where only one model is the right one would be very boring!” 👍😉