Alibaba Group Technology Strategy and Sustainability Case Solution

1. What are Alibaba’s core competencies?

Alibaba’s core competencies lie in its five businesses which include retail, wholesale, cloud computing, financial services, and logistics. In the retail arena, Alibaba has three platforms, namely, Taobao, T-mall.com, and AliExpress. Taobao extends the accessibility of small enterprises to all Chinese patrons. Due to this reason, it is regarded as the largest online marketplace in China. It has a ‘supplier-rating system’ similar to e-Bay. T-mall makes product authenticity a reality for the Chinese market by facilitating the provision of products directly from the producer or brand. T-mall supplies branded products directly from the likes of Adidas, Zara, and Samsung. AliExpress facilitates patrons from all across the globe to purchase a multitude of products from Chinese producers or wholesalers at a reasonable cost. 

Concerning wholesale, Alibaba.com has earned a name for itself in the international wholesale category by extending its services to millions of global patrons and traders. It has proven to be especially beneficial for smaller traders to market their merchandise to numerous corporations situated in several different country lands.

Alibaba’s cloud computing vertical, referred to as AliCloud, offers cloud computing services to the company’s ecosystem members as well as to other enterprises. Alibaba’s cloud computing expertise lies in four areas, namely, compute services, including scalable capacity and storage. Database services, including analytics and querying facilities, and security services.

The brand also has a financial services arm known by the name 'Ant Financial Services.' The arm's offering AliPay mitigates buying risk at Taobao and Tmall.com. AliPay also extends its services for offline purposes, which comprise invoicing for ride-hailing services and rations. A major strength of the financial services arm is that it is able to develop a credit profile utilizing data on purchase history, invoicing, and residential address. Ant Financial also extends the services of creating information technology structures to other financial institutions.

Alibaba’s fifth core competency lies in its logistics services. Rich in warehouses and delivery stations, the brand’s logistics system Cainiao Logistics extends fast, timely, and efficient delivery services including same-day deliveries. Cainiao Logistics is able to offer exceptional delivery services by capitalizing on the company’s data and technological resources.  

2. What are the opportunities and threats facing Alibaba?

There is a multitude of opportunities and threats awaiting Alibaba. These include but are not limited to economic growth, globalization, big data, accelerating income inequality, accelerating urbanization, and environmental dilapidation.