Business Strategy
Alibaba Group has been known as one of the pioneers in e-commerce, online retail, and other areas of the digital market for holding companies. Having entered the market when it was only starting to gain traction among general audiences and practically having built it from scratch, Alibaba Group has grown into a juggernaut of online retail (Tan, Tan, & Pan, 2016). As a result, the firm has been enjoying quite substantial flexibility in its decision-making as far as the business strategy of its choice is concerned.
The current business strategy of Alibaba can be described as a business-to-business (B2B) platform based on which the organization has been developing its marketing strategy and gaining the attention of its target audiences. Namely, the company seeks to digitalize every possible process across its value chain in order to transfer to the realm of the e-market completely. To achieve this goal, Alibaba Group will need to consider the entirety of its supply chain infrastructure, which includes its inbound and outbound logistics processes, its strategy toward managing communication across the SC, and the approach used for public relations.
Appropriateness
The focus on digitalization as one of the main phenomena observed n the global market is noteworthy. The inclusion of the tool that helps the organization to reach the standards set by an organization working in the global community is an essential tool in managing the instances of intolerance and the lack of compliance with the set standards for gender interactions. The importance of using the matrix model as opposed to the other two options that the model provides lies in the outcomes that each of the other two strategies provides. It is quite unusual that the case mentioned by Rick does not represent an immediate threat in the form of his uncle.
Overall, the appropriateness of the communication model at hand has to be recognized especially high due to the effects of the matrix framework, The opportunity to organize processes within the company simultaneously encouraging organizational development was a worthy goal to pursue. In turn, Alibaba could have made efficient use of the first method of application setting the process of establishing Adidas san actual physical company in the Lego world is quite touching.
The rationale for Developing International Competitive Capabilities
The basic reasoning behind the current approach used at Alibaba to help the company remain afloat in the environment of the global market is that the firm needs to expand and grow by encompassing a larger number of customers. Thus, the rationale for creating the international competitive capability described above is quite simple.
However, although the active attempts at embracing the digital market and using it to retain Alibaba’s influence in the global market are understandable, they seem to ignore the factors that make Alibaba so popular among its target audiences. To keep its services fresh and new to its clients and at the same time retain its brand name recognition levels, Alibaba will need to focus on the improvement in the quality of its services, especially as far as the probability of online fraud between customers is concerned.
Alternative Methods of International Market Entry
In addition to the increase in the customer base through the further expansion into the digital environment, Alibaba could consider partnering with the organizations that will offer the firm an opportunity to become a part of a certain foreign market. Although the described technique will only help Alibaba to focus on one market at a time instead of encompassing the entire global setting, it will allow developing especially strong relationships with the target population. As a result, the company will create a brand that will be recognized instantly by its buyers and, therefore, will gain the status of the most frequently used service in the identified environment.
Organizational Structures Used
When entering the digital segment of the market, Alibaba made it possible to use several organizational structures as the support system. Namely, both functional and divisional structures coexist in the company’s context to create a single matrix structure that allows the organization to thrive in the global market (Gang-lan, Xiang-hua, & Huang, 2009). Indeed, considering the tools that Alibaba uses in its selected economic environment, one will realize that the structural model of managing its key goals is deployed (Anwar, 2017).
However, at the same time, the company is capable of operating across the globe, embracing every possible state on the list with only a few rare exceptions (Wu & Gereffi, 2018). Therefore, the company is currently using the matrix organizational structure, which offers the most advantages to keep the corporate processes running and increase the competitive advantage (Anwar, 2017).
Alibaba’s Choice of Structure
The decision to utilize the matrix structure has affected Alibaba in several ways, the main one being its scope and goals. Since the matrix approach immediately implies that the two primary tools for structuring organizational processes are incorporated in the corporate framework, premises for the expansion of the business are designed immediately. The use of the matrix technique has helped the firm to choose the model of expansion into the global market, which was critical for its initial growth and the development of positive influence in the global economic setting.
In addition, the opportunity for aligning the key processes within its framework with the ones related to the company’s SCM was an important step in getting the firm’s processes in order and developing the system of managing its resources that would help Alibaba to maximize the utility of its current approach and maintain its performance processes uninterrupted.
Important Take-Always
The analysis of the changes that Alibaba has experienced after considering the idea f expanding its services shows that the company has been focusing on the expansion into the global digital market quite successfully. In addition, the positivity of the overall experience that Alibaba has had too far with the integration of the business strategy aimed at communication to other entities rather than the approach that involves the minimum communication across the supply chain.
The increase in the number of interactions before across the SCM context helps to keep the corporate processes orderly and organized, which is crucial for a company of the size of Alibaba. Moreover, the use of the matrix approach allows the company to establish a rapport with its employees by designing differentiated communication tools and implementing an employee-based approach.
Overall, Alibaba seems to have benefitted from the identified choice, gaining opportunities for additional training in the vaping contest (Wu & Gereffi, 2018). The approach adopted by Alibaba has helped the firm to introduce a homogenous framework into the management of its resources and the communication process across its departments. As a result, the efficacy of the SCM processes is believed to rise slowly, the chosen framework for managing organizational processes seems to be quite appropriate and efficient.
References
Anwar, S. T. (2017). Alibaba: Entrepreneurial growth and global expansion in B2B/B2C markets. Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 15(4), 366-389.
Gang-lan, H. U., Xiang-hua, L. U., & Huang, L. H. (2009). Research on e-business ecosystem and its coordination mechanism – A case study of Alibaba Group [J]. Soft Science, 9(3), 1-10.
Tan, T. C. F., Tan, B., & Pan, S. L. (2016). Developing a Leading Digital Multi-sided Platform: Examining IT Affordances and Competitive Actions in Alibaba.com. CAIS, 38, 36.
Wu, X., & Gereffi, G. (2018). Amazon and Alibaba: Internet governance, business models, and internationalization strategies. In International business in the information and digital age (pp. 327-356). Emerald Publishing Limiteds.