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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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.