Methods for Underdogs: How Alibaba's Taobao Dominated eBay in China | Cold Call
Harvard Business ReviewShow Notes
Strategies for Underdogs: How Alibaba’s Taobao Beat eBay in China | Cold Call
21 Jun 2023
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In 2007, Alibaba’s Taobao became China’s leading consumer e-commerce marketplace, displacing the once dominant eBay. How did underdog Taobao do it? And will it be able to find a way to monetize its marketplace and ensure future success?
Harvard Business School professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee discusses his case, “Alibaba’s Taobao,” (https://store.hbr.org/product/alibaba-s-taobao-a/709456?sku=709456-PDF-ENG) and related strategy lessons from his new book, Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance.
This episode originally aired on Cold Call on July 13, 2021.
You can also listen to this episode on HBR.org, and wherever you listen to podcasts: - HBR.org (transcript available here): https://hbr.org/podcast/2021/07/strategies-for-underdogs-how-alibabas-taobao-beat-ebay-in-china - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strategies-for-underdogs-how-alibabas-taobao-beat-ebay/id1156646189?i=1000528732591 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Nqto2Ht84orCG8tWWB3Lb?si=6c64dd3d99fb4c72 - Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/cold-call/episode/strategies-for-underdogs-how-alibabas-taobao-beat-ebay-in-china-85390546 - Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmhhcnZhcmRidXNpbmVzcy5vcmcvaGFydmFyZGJ1c2luZXNzL2NvbGQtY2FsbA/episode/dGFnOmF1ZGlvLmhici5vcmcsMjAxNi0wOS0xNjpjb2xkLWNhbGwuMDE1Mg?sa=X&ved=0CAIQuIEEahcKEwi4yMi53dL_AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQLA
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Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 3:27 – Network Effects 5:44 – About Alibaba and Jack Ma 9:36 – eBay Sizing Up China / Meg Whitman 11:59 ¬– Taobao’s Local Knowledge Advantage 13:57 – Taobao’s Early Strategic Decisions 19:51 – Underdog Platform vs. Asset-based Companies 23:02 – Taobao’s Revenue Model 26:32 – Outro
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