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How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

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Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#21

Post by analyst74 »

docker_up wrote: post #9

Competing against eBay is like saying you're competing in a 100m race against someone in a wheelchair. eBay has done nothing to make itself better in the last 15 years. New "features" routinely fail, and their APIs are a graveyard of dropped ideas. I hope Taobao expands to the US, eBay needs real competition, anyone working there should be embarrassed for themselves, more importantly the Directors and above.

Keep in mind that this story happened before taobao was launched in 2003, when eBay was the most dominant e-commerce player.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#22

Post by WillPostForFood »

scarejunba wrote: post #17
influx wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really just business? Why doesn't the USA do the same to all foreign companies as well?

We do. That's how we stop Broadcom from purchasing Qualcomm, get them to move here, and then still block them. Just business. The Chinese do it even better because the government is more powerful there than the US Government is here.

There is a big difference between blocking Broadcom from buying Qualcomm, and blocking Broadcom from doing business in the US. Which is what the equivalent would be.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#23

Post by 1996 »

Leary wrote: post #19
influx wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You act like the US Government hasn't already banned Chinese companies from buying or doing business in the US. That would be incorrect.

Just look at Huawei and how our Congress pressured mobile carriers away from selling the phone without any evidence of wrong-doing.

My favorite example, but I am told I am biased when I noticed that in unrelated articles.

It seem to be a well organized negative PR campaign against the company (completed by name calling and downvotes on social media)

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#25

Post by casefields »

influx wrote: post #15
shitgoose wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Why doesn't the USA do the same" Do you mean "Why doesn't the USA government do the same"? US government is slightly less omnipotent than Chinese.

You act like the US Government hasn't already banned Chinese companies from buying or doing business in the US. That would be incorrect.

For violating economic sanctions. Go ask Treasury and they’ll give you the lowdown.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#26

Post by justaman »

slyssassa wrote: post #12
dqpb wrote: post #4

> Jack told me: “I started looking at the market and realized that, pretty soon, eBay was going to try to get aggressive with its business in China. They’d start with consumers, but over time they will start coming after Alibaba’s wholesalers. Competition was inevitable. So I decided the only way we can slow them down is to launch a site to compete directly with their Chinese language site." That, plus the fact that…

Exactly. Sooner or later alibaba is just gonna be another Chinese governments pawn anyways. The government already took over Wanda and hna effortlessly.

I can't imagine a better way to ensure the business suffers in the long term. (coming from an American who see's how poorly run government institutions are)

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#30

Post by metalliqaz »

justaman wrote: post #26
slyssassa wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Sooner or later alibaba is just gonna be another Chinese governments pawn anyways. The government already took over Wanda and hna effortlessly.

I can't imagine a better way to ensure the business suffers in the long term. (coming from an American who see's how poorly run government institutions are)

Yes but it some respects you're comparing apples to oranges. The US political system is perpetually focused on the short term because of the ~4 year election cycle. China has a president for life and single-party rule. They are able to make and execute long term plans, which is why they are currently succeeding at reshaping the global trade landscape. (all roads lead to China, and all that)

It's not just that the government takes over management of the companies, they also manage the population. Where in the US consumers may choose to avoid an entity being mismanaged by the government, in China they may not exactly have that option.

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