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Investing in Cainiao's global infrastructure and leveraging that might be one way to reel in rivals, said Brian Wong, a former Alibaba employee and author of "The Tao of Alibaba".

“Personnel-wise there are people that are leaving the company, they may feel the company is so big and bureaucratic, that is a reality,” said Brian Wong, former Alibaba Group vice president and author of “The Tao of Alibaba,” published in November 2022.

The surprise resignation of Daniel Zhang as head of Alibaba's key cloud unit has thrown a spotlight on the continuing influence of Jack Ma over the company he helped found and led for over two decades.

Brian Wong, a long-time Alibaba insider and the author of “The Tao of Alibaba,” a study of its culture, told Forbes this week he expects the switch will ultimately work out.

Brian A. Wong was the first American and the 52nd employee to join China's Alibaba Group. At one point he was special assistant to its charismatic visionary and founder Jack Ma. Now an entrepreneur, Wong tells Page Turners' Melanie Oliveiro what made Alibaba Group succeed and what it was like working with Ma via his book "The Tao of Alibaba".

China's e-commerce giant is re-emerging, but faces new challenges. In the short history of China's Internet industry, Alibaba became one of the icons, with a story that is now the stuff of corporate legend...

Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Jack Ma, Jeff Bezos, Reed Hastings, Mark Knight, Ariana Huffington, Bill Gates and Travis Kalanick are all global disruptors. What sets these mavericks apart? What secret sauce fuels their unwavering determination and grit? How do they keep their eyes on the prize, ignoring distractions and overcoming the toughest obstacles?

Alibaba is bringing back two of Jack Ma’s longest-serving lieutenants to try and turn around a company that’s struggled to regain its footing since Beijing’s tech sector crackdown. Brian Wong, former Alibaba executive and author of 'The Tao of Alibaba', joins Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow for his read on it. (Source: Bloomberg)

“Eddie is a well-trusted pair of hands. He has played a key role in most of Alibaba’s businesses and has a comprehensive understanding of the organisation,” said Brian Wong, a former Alibaba executive and author of The Tao of Alibaba.

"The appointment of Daniel to focus on running cloud is really a show of confidence and trust in him to take the most precious business and run with it to develop it in the right way given this age of generative AI. The idea or expectation that one person could manage the businesses crown jewel Cloud and at the same time manage the entire Alibaba Group is an unreasonable expectation."

"The appointment of Daniel to focus on running cloud is really a show of confidence and trust in him to take the most precious business and run with it to develop it in the right way given this age of generative artificial intelligence (AI)," said Brian Wong, a former Alibaba employee and author of the book, "The Tao of Alibaba".

In 1999, Ma created Alibaba.com along with 17 partners. The site helps connect small Chinese manufacturers to overseas businesses. Brian Wong from Palo Alto, California, was an Alibaba executive for almost two decades. He recalls the early days.

When billionaire Jack Ma flew to Hangzhou on the morning of March 27, few could have predicted the domino chain of events that would shortly unfold...

Commentary starts at 9:30 mins. Brian Wong, entrepreneur and former Alibaba executive, discusses Alibaba’s plans to split its $220 billion empire into six business units. Brian is the author of The Tao of Alibaba: Inside the Chinese Digital Giant That Is Changing the World.

An excerpt from The Tao of Alibaba on the new digital frontier in developing economies. In this excerpt, I share the story behind a significant new initiative for Alibaba as it sought to move beyond an e-commerce enterprise focused on maximizing profits, and create a replicable model for leveraging digital ecosystems for growing prosperity.

At the turn of the millennium, a Chinese American still fresh into his career and working at the time for the San Francisco County made a fateful decision to fly to Hangzhou and become the first American to join a small company of around 50 other people to build a then little known business marketplace called Alibaba.com.

Alibaba is the world's largest online retailer, by some measures. In The Tao of Alibaba, Brian A. Wong explores the philosophy behind the retail giant and its effects on China's decades-long economic transformation. Alibaba is in a constant state of becoming, adapting, and changing, but it has stayed faithful to a steady set of principles, according to Wong.

Brian shares 5 key insights from his new book, The Tao of Alibaba: Inside the Chinese Digital Giant That Is Changing the World. Listen to the audio version—read by Brian himself—in the Next Big Idea App.

Jack Ma plotted Alibaba's rise with a bunch of former students, a few English teachers, some trading company employees, a journalist, and IT graduates fresh out of college. Few had internet experience, and only a handful had traveled outside China, Wong writes.

If you took the economic might of Amazon, and added the penetration of Facebook, the ubiquity of Google, and the cultural significance of YouTube, you might have something starting to resemble Alibaba.

Brian Wong, former special assistant to Mr Ma, on working at Alibaba and what lies ahead.

You might think you have things planned to a T. But problems happen. The key is how well you respond with resilience to setbacks.

Alibaba was conceived at a time before China had undergone digital transformation.

An early Alibaba employee offers an admiring survey of the Chinese giant’s unorthodox management philosophy.

Alibaba is one of the most recognizable and valuable companies in the world. Brian Wong, a former executive with the fintech giant, joined Cheddar News to discuss its journey to becoming a heavyweight e-commerce company and the experience of working with Jack Ma.

Former Alibaba Vice President of Global Initiatives Brian Wong joins Emily Chang to discuss his latest book, 'The Tao of Alibaba: Inside the Chinese Digital Giant That Is Changing the World' and the insight it provides into the company’s rise.

Former Alibaba executive Brian Wong discusses his book The Tao of Alibaba: Inside the Chinese Digital Giant That Is Changing the World. Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. Producer: Paul Brennan.

In a new book, Wong details Alibaba's management ethos and how it can be applied by others to achieve similar success.

This is the first book to articulate how Alibaba’s unique culture and “tai chi” management principles are providing a business and economic development model for the rest of the world.

In this interview, Thought Economics speaks to Brian A. Wong about the management philosophy of Alibaba and how purpose-led entrepreneurship played a key role in creating one of the world’s fastest growing, and most successful businesses.

As an important driving force of scientific and technological innovation, financial capital is also an indispensable part of the ecology of scientific and technological innovation.

Former Alibaba exec and founder of RADII talks bridging East and West with China’s youth culture.

Chen (24) and his wife, Ding (24), are store owners on Taobao.com, one of China’s largest online shopping platforms.

The ability to leverage digital tools has become a must for entrepreneurs, to survive the ongoing crisis.

THE DESA project, a new initiative to help rural SMEs find a market for their goods through e-commerce, was launched in conjunction with e-Commerce Day 2019.

When Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma, first visited Africa a couple of years ago, he discovered many similarities between Africa now and China when he founded Alibaba.

From June 19-29, 29 Africa-based entrepreneurs from 11 countries participated in a flagship programme hosted by Alibaba Business School and UNCTAD.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is expanding globally, with R&D centers planned all over the world.

A campus can reveal a lot about a company’s culture.