Business globalisation must be more inclusive, says Jack Ma

“I hope both are right,” Ma said. “The world can never have one model. If you only have one correct model, it’s boring.”

He said the two companies’ differing business models derive from fundamentally different philosophies. Alibaba is about empowering sellers, services companies, logistics companies and others to build their businesses, rather than owning the entire sales chain and logistic network.

“Amazon is more like an empire,”he said. “Everything, they want to control by themselves. We want to be an ecosystem… Our philosophy is to empower others to sell, to service, to make sure others are more powerful than us.”

Ma said he’s looking forward to the day when 10 million small business sellers can compete with a giant like Microsoft and “we can make every company become Amazon.”

Ma again touted his company’s efforts at weeding out fakes on its platforms using big data. He said Alibaba has made great strides at detecting and taking down counterfeit products and worked with law enforcement to make cases against hundreds of sellers of counterfeiters last year. He said Alibaba spends about RMB1 billion a year on anti-counterfeiting efforts.

“People criticise us. We are happy about the progress we make,” Ma said.

Discussing Alibaba’s foray into Hollywood, Ma said the decision to go into movies came a couple of years ago during a periodic strategic review. He said Alibaba decided to enter show business as part of its so-called “2-H Strategy” – standing for happiness and health. He said movies are fun and enjoyable and that, as with all of its businesses, it’s taking a long-term view toward its success. Asked what he hoped to achieve through investment in entertainment, he compared and contrasted Chinese and American movies.

“In China movies, the heroes are always dead. In American movies, heroes never die. In my movies, I want to make the hero live,” Ma said, drawing laughter from the audience.