Jack Ma expressed support for Alibaba's transformation

Author | Liu Baodan

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

Over the past year, Alibaba has experienced an unprecedented downturn. Whether it is the obstacles encountered in the advancement of the "1-to-6 split" strategy, or the temporary overtaking of market position by Pinduoduo, the former e-commerce king found itself somewhat caught off guard. At a critical moment, Jack Ma once again voiced his support for Alibaba.

On April 10th, Jack Ma published a post titled "To Reform, To Innovate" on Alibaba's internal network, highly praising the courage of the new management team composed of Joseph Tsai and Eddie Wu, stating that Alibaba has returned to a path of healthy growth and supporting continued reform.

This post is the first time in five years since Jack Ma's retirement that he has shared his thoughts on Alibaba's past and future in the form of a lengthy article.

Jack Ma first affirmed Joseph Tsai's reflection on Alibaba.

A week ago, Joseph Tsai publicly stated that Alibaba had fallen behind in the past few years, with the issue of Taotian Group lying in neglecting user experience. In response, Jack Ma said, "Thanks to Joe's courage and responsibility, making mistakes is not scary, everyone makes mistakes, what is truly scary is not knowing, not admitting, and not correcting mistakes."

Jack Ma's call not only represents recognition of the new core management team at Alibaba, but to a large extent, it is also an affirmation of Alibaba's transformation over the past year.

Although Alibaba Cloud and Cainiao have suspended their listings and will be key investments by the Alibaba Group in the future, this means that Alibaba's spin-off plan has essentially failed. However, in the past year of organizational restructuring, Alibaba's strategic direction has become more focused, and organizational management efficiency has significantly improved, which is more important.

Currently, Alibaba is focusing on enhancing the competitiveness of e-commerce, aiming to revive Taotian Group's market position. Since Eddie Wu took on the role of CEO of Taotian Group at the end of last year and quickly assembled a young team, Taotian Group has begun to show a new look and is vigorously advancing its content strategy.

"In the past year, the new management team has made various changes, not only breaking through the solidified strategies of the past, but also building the future of Alibaba." Jack Ma stated that the most core change in this year is not to chase after KPIs, but to recognize oneself and return to the track of customer value.

In his view, Alibaba has taken the initiative to address the problems of a large company, transitioning from a slow decision-making organization back to one that prioritizes efficiency and the market, becoming simple and agile again. The new management team faces problems and the future head-on, fully empowers the young team, and makes decisive and clear choices about what to pursue and what not to pursue.

Looking ahead, Jack Ma expressed his latest understanding of market changes and clearly stated that he will support Alibaba's continued transformation.

He believes that in this era of massive technological change, a span of three to five years is like a century for the internet field, enough to bring about earth-shaking changes.

In this situation, Alibaba needs to solve problems through innovation. Jack Ma believes that innovation at Alibaba has never been about pursuing higher profits, from B2B to Taobao, to Alipay, and then to Alibaba Cloud, but rather about striving to survive in a rapidly changing era.

The market is ever-changing, but Jack Ma believes that in three years, e-commerce will definitely not be the hottest e-commerce today. What is important is not catching up with who is leading today, but thinking about how to improve the consumer experience of e-commerce tomorrow. "The AI era has just arrived, everything is just beginning, we are right on time! In the face of the e-commerce storm sweeping through major companies, whether it's the competitive landscape of the e-commerce market or Alibaba's own strategic adjustments, they are constantly evolving and vibrating. Jack Ma said, "In the future, we need to be more proactive, more actively and quickly change ourselves, and we need to reform more vigorously in order to establish a vibrant future for Alibaba."

Facing this sweeping e-commerce storm, Alibaba is also gearing up to face the changes