Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built
Written by Duncan Clark
Narrated by Jim Meskimen
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
An engrossing, insider’s account of how a teacher built one of the world’s most valuable companies—rivaling Walmart & Amazon—and forever reshaped the global economy.
In just a decade and half Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded and built Alibaba into one of the world’s largest companies, an e-commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever. A Rockefeller of his age who is courted by CEOs and Presidents around the world, Jack is an icon for China’s booming private sector and the gatekeeper to hundreds of millions of middle class consumers.
Duncan Clark first met Jack in 1999 in the small apartment where Jack founded Alibaba. Granted unprecedented access to a wealth of new material including exclusive interviews, Clark draws on his own experience as an early advisor to Alibaba and two decades in China chronicling the Internet’s impact on the country to create an authoritative, compelling narrative account of Alibaba’s rise.
How did Jack overcome his humble origins and early failures to achieve massive success with Alibaba? How did he outsmart rival entrepreneurs from China and Silicon Valley? Can Alibaba maintain its 80% market share? As it forges ahead into finance and entertainment, are there limits to Alibaba’s ambitions? How does the Chinese government view its rise? Will Alibaba expand further overseas, including in the U.S.?
Clark tells Alibaba’s tale in the context of China’s momentous economic and social changes, illuminating an unlikely corporate titan as never before.
Editor's Note
In the news…
Alibaba’s Jack Ma is stepping down. Find out how China’s richest man built the “Amazon of China” and revolutionized the Chinese marketplace in this biography written with an insider’s perspective by one of Alibaba’s earliest advisors. A crucial look at one of the world’s biggest leaders.
Duncan Clark
Duncan Clark, a former Morgan Stanley investment banker and fluent Mandarin speaker, has lived and worked in China for more than twenty years. He heads a team of more than one hundred at BDA China, the investment advisory firm he founded in Beijing in 1994. An expert on China’s Internet sector, Clark is a former visiting scholar at Stanford University, where he welcomed Jack Ma on stage as a keynote speaker, along with the leaders of other leading China Internet firms including Baidu, Sina, and Tencent.
Related to Alibaba
Related audiobooks
You Only Have to Be Right Once: The Unprecedented Rise of the Instant Tech Billionaires Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inside Larry's and Sergey's Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leading Apple With Steve Jobs: Management Lessons From a Controversial Genius Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Self-Made Billionaire Effect: How Extreme Producers Create Massive Value Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Smart Business: What Alibaba's Success Reveals about the Future of Strategy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Jack Ma Did It: An Analysis of Ali Baba's Success Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Six Billion Shoppers: The Companies Winning the Global E-Commerce Boom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Burn: How Grit, Innovation, and a Dash of Luck Ignited a Multi-Million Dollar Success Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTroublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5More Than Coffee: The Secrets of Starbucks Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Ichan: The Biography of a Renegade Capitalist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Billion Dollar Secret: 20 Principles of Billionaire Wealth and Success Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bezonomics: How Amazon Is Changing Our Lives and What the World's Best Companies Are Learning from It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos, With an Introduction by Walter Isaacson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All In: How Obsessive Leaders Achieve the Extraordinary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Harder You Work, the Luckier You Get: An Entrepreneur's Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
E-Commerce For You
Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seo: The Ultimate Search Engine Optimization Guide for Marketers and Entrepreneurs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Options Trading: The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Trading like the Rich Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Affiliate Marketing for Newbies: 7 Simple Steps to Straight Make Money Online as a Newbie Affiliate Marketer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The YouTube Formula: How Anyone Can Unlock the Algorithm to Drive Views, Build an Audience, and Grow Revenue Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Social Media Success for Every Brand: The Five StoryBrand Pillars That Turn Posts Into Profits Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fractional CMO Method: Attract, Convert and Serve High-Paying Clients on Your Terms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos, With an Introduction by Walter Isaacson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Affiliate Marketing: Secrets - The Simple Formula To Making $10,000+ Per Month In Passive Income Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Starting A Business For Beginners & Dummies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future: The Early Years: 2020-2023 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising: Revised and Expanded Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Side Hustle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Alibaba
289 ratings22 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book reveals a China perspective that helps to believe in a better world. I really recommend it.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A very well written book. It's a peek into the early Internet through the eyes of an early stage Chinese entrepreneur. definitely fascinating.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I think its not really related to his business. Its more like third person story
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved Jack Ma and his story , inspired.Thank You Author and who made this audio book ,god bless You.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5:) interesting. Towards chapter 9 onwards gets a little repetitive.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Would have been a lot better if the reader actually tried to learn pronunciation of the Chinese words and names
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good introduction but already needs a new edition or sequel to update the story. We need a lot more in English about what’s happening in China.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Well done read, it got my curiosity fired up. I learnt how an indestructible team spirit kept the group, how persistence and faith that the internet would change everything made Jack who he is today.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book, great account of how ordinary Jack founded this great organization and his temperament to make it one of the best business venture ever....I like it
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I was expecting more simple and mainly about his life rather than the business side.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good book for inside affairs of bussinesses of the company
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great illustration of Jack Ma's business life and how he managed to succeed despite many obstacles and failures. A good read for every entrepreneur that will learn a thing or two when embarking on their own journey of creating businesses and companies. I liked when he said: I wish I never took the company public.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It was... interesting. It reads like an economic case study. Lots of facts about the Chinese marketplace and different business units of Alibaba and its subsidiaries. However, it seems unfocused when it comes to the origin story of the company and Jack Ma's mentality toward business.
If you're looking for a well-narrated case study on one company's strategy, this is for you. If you are looking for a backstory to how Alibaba rose in prominence, this is a sub-par narrative. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good book.. Very inspirational story ......... Must read book for all
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent summary of how Jack Ma began his company. A great source of inspiration for any Entrepreneur worldwide.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's good to know more about Chinese businesses as it looks abscure from the occident point of view, and specially Ma who is known more and more and compared to the big whales like Besoz. But I just found the book not focused, at least for me to follow the story
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Most People put of Alibaba as a Story, It’s not just a Story, It’s a Strategy
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great presentation
Most recommended for all........
Quite an insight into the company - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great overview of the story of Alibaba, Jack Ma and China really growing into power. And the internet revolution taking hold in China.
Recommend reading if interested in any of the three above-mentioned categories. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before starting it, I thought that, again, I am going to get into the life of another visionary wizard tech entrepreneur. Instead it portrayed a man, Jack Ma, full of flaws, who persisted along his career, regardless of the many challenges he faced.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enjoyable and insightful. I honestly didn't enjoy the first two chapters, but after that, as the book starts telling the tale of Jack Ma growing up and creating this massive global business, I learnt so much and enjoyed it till the end.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A full account of Jack Ma's rise to the internet mogul that ALibaba has made him.The book was well-written but lacked humpor. I found it tough reading.