Alibaba.Com Case Essay

1. Alibaba.com was an early entrant into the B2B portal market in China. In almost 100 words, explain how this capability have created a lock-in effect, especi every last(predicate)y given the types of businesses he site attracts.Alibaba.com does translation as surface as listings for shrimpy to mid-sized businesses who want to do business. In so doing thither is a lot of time and effort put into this business contingency by these businesses. Once they are established and have spent the funds to get there they wouldnt be looking at changing their site unless this one wasnt functional for them. Since this site really concentrates its efforts towards these businesses and it is operative they are pretty much a lock-in. Other businesses startups that would endeavour and assimilate their business would have to provide something they are non already acquiring in magnitude to lure them away.2. Alibaba.com currently charges foreign sellers an annual payment of ab egress $400 fo r a TrustPass membership, but Chinese companies pay $8000 or more for their annual listings as China Gold Suppliers. In about 200 words, explain why the site has different listing charges for the some(prenominal) types of members and critically evaluate this practice.Foreign sellers are limited to the amount of items they wad list on the site. The TrustPass isnt necessary for them to buy it only pays for a credit check that assures companies wanting to buy for them that they have been checked out. It would be advantageous for companies to pay the fee for a TrustPass in order for the companies wanting to buy from them to k at a time they are someone who screwing be trusted.Whereas, the coin paid by the Chinese companies is paying for the translation and the listing of all their information on the site as well as market. Chinese companies are not limited to the amount of items they can list. Alibaba.com is also connecting gnomish and mid-sized businesses from around the world with those small and mid-sized businesses in China who subscribe to them.Alibaba.com is doing marketing for these businesses that world power otherwise not have the resources to do this. Most small or mid-sized businesses in China would look to such means as trade fairs and other such avenues to meet other suppliers and to attract customers to their businesses. in that location is such a wide gap between the pricing that it could be construed the Chinese companies are way over paying for the services. However, when you look at all they are getting for their money and the fact it is opening more more doors for them it seems it isnt. With the growth of the association and the renewal rate it seems to be working well for them and they arent arguing the price.3. You learned in Chapter 5 that bighearted companies, such as General Electric and Sears, often want suppliers to occur specific rules if they want to do business (such as using EDI or even a specific EDI new wave). Alibab a.com currently focuses on connecting SMBs with all(prenominal) other. In about 200 words, discuss opportunities that might exist for Alibaba.com to become an intermediary in relationships between Chinese SMBs and large global companies such as General Electric and Sears.Alibaba.com could be the site to use a value-added meshing (VAN) and have all the software, equipment and skills needed to do transactions with the bigger companies. By having only one EDI translator computer saving each of the SMBs it contracts with from each one of them having to have their own. By hooking up with a VAN provider Alibaba.com would have the advantages of that provider for all of the SMBs it has contacts with.By everyone using the resembling VAN the costs could be spread out over everyone and not be so costly, thus letting all the SMBs getting the advantages of the VAN. By doing this Alibaba.com becomes a supplier for not only SMBs to SMBs but can now admirer those SMBs by selling to larger and more retail companies who require that anyone they buy from have an EDI.By Alibaba.com moving to this next step they can up their membership fees to cover the cost of upgrading to this option. It is a win-win situation for both Alibaba.com and all of the SMBs it does business with. Alibaba.com grows and the SMBs are now cap up to(p) to contract with bigger industrial companies and retailers that they would not have the opportunity to do before. With these new undertake opportunities the SMBs also have the opportunity to grow.4. In 2003, Alibaba.com launched Taobao.com to compete in the superior general consumer online auction market against eBay in China. After four years of an intense and expensive battle, eBay withdrew from China completely. In about 200 words, describe the advantages Alibaba.com might have had over eBay in this new market, and and so describe the advantages eBay might have had over Alibaba.com. Be sure to discuss lock-in effects where appropriate.Alibaba.com was already a well-known and trusted name in business traffic when it opened Taobao.com. Since Alibaba.com was pretty much a lock-in with its B2B portal for SMBs it would be a natural progression for Taobao.com under the Alibaba.com structure to become a lock-in for other market existence the general consumer online auction market. By drawing reach of the Alibaba.com name the Taobao.com site would become more valuable to people who already are aware of the company than in investing in a new company such as eBay trying to come in and start from scratch.The trust had already been gained and people are not tone ending to willingly move from a company they already trust to a new company starting out. By being an established company Taobao.com could possibly be able to offer incentives, fairer prices and a larger emptor/seller base than eBay just coming in. People who are purchase or selling would want the larger base in order to get what they want to buy or to get a wear out pri ce for what they are selling. By winning against eBay this would pretty much lock-in Taobao.com and catch up with it rather difficult for any other company wanting to try and compete against them in the future.5. In 2005, rube Paid $1 billion for a 40 percent interest in Alibaba.com. Yahoo was provoke in the companys Taobao.com auction site because Yahoo had not been as successful as it would have liked in maturation its own Chinese auction site. However, Yahoo was also interested in using Alibaba.coms strong composition in China to help I compete with Baidu.com, the top Chinese search engine site. In about 200 words, describe the ways in which Alibaba.coms reputation could help Yahoo Compete more effectively as a search engine and Web portal in China.By Alibaba.com being an established business since 1995 and being a lock-in for the, SMB to SMB, B2B market worldwide and then being another lock-in for the general consumer online auction market in 2003 its competition in both a reas were basically out of luck. By Yahoo offering to buy into the company showed that they knew they werent going to be able to come in as a new company and circle out Alibaba.com or Taobao.com.It had already been tried by eBay and they had failed after outgo years and money to do it and not making it. Therefore, by purchasing an interest in an already established company Yahoo was able to get its name out there in the public domain and business sectors and start gaining the trust by becoming a per centum of an already trusted company. When a large company endorses another produce or site it lends credibility to that product or site and its following are more willing to take a chance on the new one.By Alibaba.com and Taobao.com putting their mark on Yahoo as a reliable search engine and Web portal it was grammatical construction to all of their contract businesses and buyers and sellers that this was someone they should use and trust as well. and then they gave Yahoo that b oost above any of the other search engines out their vying for people to use them.