Alibaba Group is raising its profile here in a slow, yet unconventional way, as its business strategy is far from that of other companies whose primary goal is to maximize profit.
China’s largest e-commerce company was not well known to Korean customers before it surprised the world in 2014 with its record-breaking initial public offering at the New York Stock Exchange.
In the same year, the company made its first noteworthy appearance here, with Chairman Jack Ma visiting Seoul to meet President Park Geun-hye to discuss business collaboration with Korean companies.
Alibaba and its key affiliates have since formed partnerships with local companies in what critics say is a move to diversify its revenue streams, as other overseas information and communication technology (ICT) giants have done.
But revenue generation has not been the core of its business and partnerships, given its two-year operations here. The company, instead, has focused on building an environment in which small Korean companies can sell things abroad.
This is in line with its corporate vision: Making transactions easier anywhere. The Alibaba founder identified the need to build such an environment in China when he established the firm in 1999. He said he wants to apply the same philosophy to other countries, including Korea.
“Alibaba does not have any plans to directly open an online shopping platform in Korea, as our ultimate goal is to become a company helping other firms to benefit from e-commerce,” he said last year when celebrating the launch of the Korea Pavilion on its business-to-customer (B2C) retail site, Tmall.
The Korea Pavilion was Alibaba’s first official country pavilion on its website, selling genuine Korean products to Chinese customers.
He then dispelled concerns that the company may become a potential threat to local e-commerce operators. The Alibaba chief made it clear that Alibaba hopes to become a “facilitator” to help Korea’s e-commerce grow, allowing small companies to sell their products to Chinese customers.
All of its partnerships in Korea have so far come under this corporate motto.
Major collaborations include the Korea Exemplary Food Exhibition project, for which the nation’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and 1688.com, Alibaba’s business-to-business (B2B) online trading site in China, joined hands. This was in October 2014, in the e-commerce giant’s bid to introduce Korean food to the Chinese B2B market.
In May, its cloud-computing affiliate, Alibaba Cloud, partnered with two Korean firms ― SK C&C and Bankware Global. During the announcement, Alibaba allowed its two local partners to announce their visions through the collaboration.
This symbiotic corporate management policy is part of Alibaba’s efforts to make the company last for more than 100 years, which will cross three centuries, according to the Alibaba chief.
