Alibaba

What is strategy and what is “not” strategy?

The strategy refers to the identification of long-term objectives and goals concerning an enterprise as well as the adoption of courses of measures and the allocation of resources in various operations. For instance, the competitive plan is among the strategy of being acting in a unique way, hence, managing to outweigh other companies dealing with similar products and services. In an illustration, the above strategy facilitates the deliberate process of selecting various types of activities, hence, making it easy to deliver an identical mix of value. On the other hand, non-strategy represents a plan that is not accompanied by fundamental goals including objectives, vision, and mission. Indeed, the company’s strategy such as that used in Alibaba should reflect the domain or scope of the firm’s activities. 

Explanation of the Steps Required when a Business Decides on a Strategy

There are numerous procedures that need to be followed during the time a business makes a decision regarding the strategy. The first step involves presentation and comparison of working definitions for the strategic objective as well as generic, business, top-level and competitive strategies. The second step is about offering an explanation about why the firms sometimes transform its plans and also assess change impact with selective income metrics like EBITDA and EBIT. The third step aims at determining effective ways of implementing the top-level competitive plan in five phases, beginning with the vision of the founder and the establishment of complete planned structure. In addition, the other step involves the description of the role of the quantitative business framework in the matter concerning validation of a strategic proposal. 

Summary of the Strategy of an Organization in a “Strategy Statement”

The organizational strategy statement should contain have three major themes that denote the operations carried out within an organization. To illustrate, the first idea of the strategy statement is viewed through the company’s fundamental goals that reflect the highlighted objectives, vision, and mission as well as the domain or scope of the organizational operations involving clients, consumers, and internal activities. As a matter of fact, the above information regarding the strategy statement is helpful in determining the company’s growth and development within a given period. 

The distinction of Operational, Business, and Corporate Strategies

There are many differences between the business, operational and corporate strategies. To be specific, the corporate plan refers to the diversification of vice media from the imaginative magazine into various activities such as publishing, retailing, and the use of video clips to determine the various business levels. To illustrate, the corporate strategy is concerned with the entire business scope and the manner into which value is added to the relevant organizational units. On the other hand, the competitive or business strategy revolves around the content improvement or vice magazine marketing meant to attract more audience. Indeed, this business strategy aims at offering a comprehensive understanding of the manner into which different units offer best-value services while trying to compete in a specified market. On the other hand, the functions or operational strategy help in meeting the investment requirements as well as facilitating the process of raising finance and finding the necessary processes, resources, and people. In the illustration, the operational strategy aims at showing the manner into which several sectors of a company deliver the organizational plan. 

Identification of Major Issues for Organizational Strategy Based on the Exploring Strategy Model

According to the exploring strategy model, there several cores issues that influence the strategy of an organization. In connection to the above statement, the exploring strategy framework can be applied in various problematic areas small businesses that are affected by the growth and strategic purpose issues as well as challenges about retention of independence. Still, the multinational corporations also encounter difficulties emanating from the geographical scope, that is, the control or structural issues and cultural problems. On the other hand, the public sector organizations also experience various challenges revolving around the transformational management and provision of quality services. In addition, non-profit organizations also encounter problems such as funding and purpose problems. As a matter of fact, all the above challenges normally affect the organizational transactions in an adverse manner. 

Analysis of Alibaba’s Broad Macro-Environment Based on Political, Economic, Social, Ecological and Legal Factors (PESTEL)

There are numerous macro-environmental factors that influence Alibaba’s operations. First, in the view of political factor, the Chinese government is offering great support for digitalization, hence, proving that this company will be able to diversify its operations in various parts of China and in the entire world. Second, Alibaba is situated in a region with a stable economy, a factor denoting that this firm will be able to operate in an efficient and effective manner since it will not encounter an economic downturn. Moreover, through reviewing the social factor it is clear that there is China have effective CSR activities as well as encountering high growth in the target markets, thus, suggesting that this company have a conducive environment for prospering. Furthermore, the technological aspects reveal that Alibaba’s innovative transaction will be successful due to increased data-driven user experience as well as technical improvements on major operations. Still, the lawsuit against the fake products will boost the progress of Alibaba because there will be no stiff competition from companies dealing with counterfeit products. In addition, the aspect of China focusing on water conservation will enhance Alibaba business relating to this factor in a positive manner. Conversely, all the above elements denote that Alibaba has the potential of dominating the innovation sector. 

Alternative Scenarios for Addressing Possible Changes

There is numerous alternative scenario that can facilitate the process of addressing a possible transformation in order to boost Alibaba’s performance. For instance, this company can lay emphasis on improving its operational areas by concentrating on investment and acquisitions. In this case, Alibaba should try to merge or acquire its biggest competitors, hence, being able to cut costs and expenses while trying to win customers from its opponents. Moreover, another alternative to enhance the performance of this company is to start managing resources off and on the cloud simultaneously in the Container Service console devoid of shifting between various cloud consoles. In this scenario, Alibaba should be ready to use similar orchestration and image concerning the characteristics that are not connected with the container infrastructure. In the illustration, the above contains will serve various roles such as triggering the expansion of container in scenarios where the business traffic reaches the extension indicator. More importantly, the low cost will help in ending costs and wastage of resources by contacting the capacity when the traffic reduces. 

Evaluation of Different Approached for Environmental Forecasting

There are several approaches that can facilitate the environment forecasting. The first method is the top-down approach and it ascertains that prediction is carried out at the corporate stages or at the strategic level. To illustrate, this technique begins with predicting the general economic conditions involving the interest rates, gross national product, government expenditures, and unemployment among other factors. The other method is known as bottom-up approach and it describes a situation where the lower and middle lover workers speculate the business operations for the future date. At this point, the involved official normally carries out a survey to determine the things that customers desire to purchase. 

The Use of Porter’s Five Forces to Define Alibaba’s Attractiveness, Markets, and its Potential Change

The Porter’s five is an essential tool for determining the capability of Alibaba and it also facilitates the process of coming up with the necessary changes. For instance, through considering threats for entrants, it occurs that Alibaba can easily start an e-commerce business in China since this government has specialized greatly on online stores. Second, the review of the bargaining power of suppliers denotes entities distributing goods to this company have little bargaining power. Moreover, the customers for Alibaba are many and they do not hold much bargaining power. Still, this company has higher chances of experiencing the threat of substitute products from the companies Chinese and Avon suppliers who make direct sales to their clients. In addition, the biggest rivalry for Alibaba normally emanates from the international sources such as UPS and FedEx. Owing to the above information, this company should use more advanced and client-based tactics to transact its business in order to dominate other firms in this sector. 

Explanation of Different Types of Industry and their Influence in Changing Industry Life Cycles

There are different types of industries that influence the development and alteration of industry lifespan. To be specific, the monopolistic industries represents a business with one participant, hence, indicating there is no competition rivalry. Moreover, the oligopolistic industries represent a market dominated by few companies with limited rivalry, thereby, these organizations seem to have authority over the suppliers and buyers. Besides, the perfectly competitive industry refers to a market characterized by low barriers to entry and the participants in this form of the market have almost similar products and they are all aware of their competitors. Additionally, the hyper-competitive industry is a type of business occupied by aggressive and bold competitors who tend to create constant change and disequilibrium. Indeed, the above types of industries play a role in determining the prices of goods and services in the market. 

Analysis of Strategic and Competitor Positions Based on the Blue Oceans, Strategic Groups, and Market Segments

There are numerous factors that can help to analyze Alibaba’s market positioning. For instance, the Blue Oceans approach indicates that Alibaba has been a domestic participant in the market, hence, managing to obtain a revenue of approximate 10% in the global market. In consideration of the strategic group analysis, it occurs that Alibaba is experiencing stiff competition from different companies such as eBay, JD, Wanda, Baidu, Tencent, and Amazon. On the other hand, the review about the market segmentation shows that Alibaba is strategically positioned in a better place, hence, obtaining the capability of competing with its opponents without experiencing lots of challenges.

Alibaba’s Opportunities and Threats in the Market Place

There are various opportunities and threats that affect Alibaba’s performance in the market place. Starting with the opportunities, the demand and high investment on E-commerce portals denote that Alibaba will be able to diversify its operations in order to serve a large number of clients. Moreover, the use of aggregator based approach will aid this company to minimize expenses and retain its activities lean. On the other hand, this company is experiencing threat such as high competitions from the companies offering similar products and services, dropping profitability of E-commerce services, and negative implication of instability in the global market. 

To conclude, Alibaba should utilize effectual business strategy in order to be able to compete effectively with its competitors. Indeed, there is confidential information indicating that this company has the potential to dominate if its management can utilize tools such as Porter’s five, Blue Oceans, market segments, and strategic group analysis as well as PESTEL tool to determine effectual positioning in the market. For instance, this essay denotes that Alibaba is encountering great competition from the companies such as eBay, JD, Wanda, Baidu, Tencent, and Amazon, hence, need to come up with an advanced method of transacting its business in order to outshine them. Moreover, this company should use available opportunities to depleting the anticipated threat in order to boost its financial stability. Conversely, if Alibaba can implement the above mechanisms, it will be able to dominate other firms dealing with similar products and services.

References

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