15 of the best quotes from Jack Ma’s interview at Davos

[TaiShang]

15 of the best quotes from Jack Ma’s interview at Davos

Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma returned to Davos today for the first time in years for a chat. Interviewed by CBS’s Charlie Rose, Ma – chatty and eminently quotable as ever – talked about his early days as an entrepreneur, the origins of Alibaba, and some more contemporary issues as well.

Here are 15 of his best quotes:

Ma returned to many of his favorite themes, such as how the marketplace model that Alibaba uses with its many estores can enable small companies and merchants to do business online. He expects ecommerce to be totally mainstream soon so that the word doesn’t need to be used.

This is how he described Alibaba’s record-breaking IPO in which the company raised about US$21.8 billion.

He talked about rejection and early failures with school tests and finding his first job – including one as a server at a branch of KFC in his hometown, Hangzhou:

Ma emphasized the early challenges of building trust in ecommerce, especially in China. “How can you do things online unless you trust?” he asked. He then illustrated that by saying…

He said that a government could never create ecommerce, but he still feels “responsibility” to educate the government about how ecommerce can benefit people. Despite that, he’s not too keen on being called upon by them.

On the topic of privacy and security, he said that Alibaba has not yet been in the position of handing over user data to the Chinese government. But Ma said he would cooperate if it related to national security, anti-terrorism, or a specific crime. Focusing on privacy, Ma added that he’s “fully confident” of a breakthrough in web privacy and security “in the next 10 to 15 years,” saying: “Today we may not have the solutions, we do not have the answers. But I believe our young people have the solutions.”

Then he launched into talking about Alibaba then and now, referencing the time that TIME magazine descibed him as crazy…

 

[TaiShang]

Rose then asked Ma about tai chi, the martial art that he practices. He used the art to draw a comparison with doing business.

Ma said that he started out trying to change the world but then later realized that it’s people who need to change so as to effect change.

Ma then delved into some stats, saying that 47 percent of Alibaba’s employees are women; 33 percent of management are women; and 24 percent of senior management are women. He explained that women think about others more, so they’re crucial to a good business.

Ma and Rose ended the chat on the subject of China’s slowing GDP growth. The double-digit growth has now given way to about seven percent expansion, and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang recently embraced this by saying that China’s economy is entering a “new normal” of slower but healthier growth. Ma agreed that it’s more sustainable, particularly with regard China’s environment, hinting at environmental concerns he has expressed numerous times over the past few years.

 

[Pangu]

"Change the world is maybe Obama's job."

The last quote is poignant. "Grow your mind, grow your culture, grow your values, grow your wisdom."

 

[TaiShang]

Awesome! "Change the world is maybe Obama's job."

The last quote is poignant. "Grow your mind, grow your culture, grow your values, grow your wisdom."

Agreed!

 

[terranMarine]

That's a nice suit he's wearing

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

This is how you know you are getting big: ppl quote your businessmen and politicians.

Nobody quotes nobodies.

 

[Keel]

Though I am not agreeing to all his quotes, some of them are really funny
He can be successful as a standup comedian too

 

[StarCraft_ZT]

He speaks English very well.

 

[Viet]

nice. what´s next? a series of threads: best quotes of mao zedong, xi jinping or bo xilai?
for me, confucious is still unbeatable.

 

[TaiShang]

He is the representative of the new generation of entrepreneurs of China. There will be more.

 

[Viet]

@Hu Songshan
would you pls review the posts of the member conkhi here. he uses obscene language.

Thank You!

 

[TaiShang]

Jack Ma: Alibaba still a baby

Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, speaks during the session 'An Insight, An Idea with Jack Ma' in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos on January 23, 2015. More than 1,500 business leaders and 40 heads of state or government attend the Jan. 21-24 meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to network and discuss big themes, from the price of oil to the future of the Internet. This year they are meeting in the midst of upheaval, with security forces on heightened alert after attacks in Paris, the European Central Bank considering a radical government bond-buying programme and the safe-haven Swiss franc rocketing. [File photo]


Jack Ma, the founder of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, expressed his confidence about China's slowing economy on Friday at Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum.

Speaking at a seminar named "An Insight, An Idea with Jack Ma" at the World Economic Forum, Ma gave a wide-ranging interview, sharing his childhood experiences, the Alibaba's development process and his view on working with the government.

"Fall in love with the government but don't marry them," He said when asked about the relationship between enterprises and governments.

He gave an example of when Alibaba worked together with Chinese authorities to upgrade 12306.cn, the official online rail ticket booking platform, to help millions of Chinese migrant workers to buy tickets to return home for the upcoming Spring Festival.

"Compared to 15 years ago, we are big. But compared to 15 years later, we are still a baby," he said at the event.

Ma is also ambitious about the firm's future, saying that Alibaba's achievements will one day surpass Walmart.

Ma said he believes the company should act like an electronic world trade organization and serve 2 billion consumers around the world.

He also added that he wanted to aid European and American companies to sell more goods to Chinese consumers and connect to all global nations, giving the example that Norwegian firms would be able to sell their wares to Argentina.

When asked to comment on China's slowing GDP, Ma told the audience that he doesn't worry about it. He said it's time to focus on the quality of the ecomony rather than quantity.

Before the start of the event, some members of the audience posted on social media that attendants have to queue to see the oversold session as tickets were sold out within seconds.

 

[Bussard Ramjet]

Jack Ma on China’s rise, its place on the global web, and what young entrepreneurs should do

Alibaba founder Jack Ma was at Davos last week, and in his public chat he said some pretty interesting things. But during his time there, he also sat down for an exclusive interview with Chinese website Sina Tech. In it, he waxed lyrical on everything from the symbolic nature of China’s internet sector to how he thinks China’s young entrepreneurs should view the world.

We’ve translated all the highlights for you here.

On whether the rise of China’s internet sector is a symbol of national success:
Yes, I think the development of China’s internet sector shows that China has made great strides in the thirty years since reform and opening up; China really is reforming. People have lots of opinions about China’s internet, and of course nothing is perfect, but the rise of the internet community in China shows that China’s thirty years of reform have been successful. Now of course everyone hopes things will become even more open, everyone wants to do better. I think that will come step-by-step, and that’s a good thing.

On the Chinese internet industry’s place in the world as it expands:
Of course I think [China’s internet expansion] should not be about making the world understand China, it should be about China participating in the world economy. China should participate in the creation of the world economy, participate in the creation of economic value. If we only see ourselves as a globalized seller of Chinese products, we will not be respected.

On the next big opportunity in China’s internet sector:
Here, the Sina Tech interviewer pointed to an old Chinese saying: even a pig can fly in a strong breeze. He said that over the years the internet has had strong breezes in various sectors that have allowed many new companies to be successful, and asked Ma where in the internet industry he thought the next “strong breeze” could be found. Me responded:

First of all, a pig can fly in the wind, but when that wind dies down it’s the pig who’s going to fall to his death. Because he’s still a pig. What everyone has to think about is how to control the wind, how to grasp that wind and push yourself up. I think we shouldn’t seek the next strong wind; we should make ourselves into people that can fly at even the slightest breeze, people who can soar.

I have seen a lot of Chinese internet companies grasp every opportunity, and a lot of other companies that fell down because they missed out on opportunities. That [missing opportunities] hurts the economy, hurts employees, hurts society, and hurts the company.

On online banking services as a part of the Alibaba ecosystem:
Alibaba’s mission is to make business easy, and our main target is helping small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs]. Other than their problems with finding buyers and sellers, SMEs also have funding problems, liquid capital problems, supply-chain management problems, high-tech problems…these problems require a lot of hard work, lots of people working together. So I think online banking services are a way of looking at how to use internet technology and internet thinking to understand the financial problems SMEs have.

On government oversight and regulation of online banking:
The oversight problem is very normal. Innovation coming before oversight is very ordinary; the development of anything new will have this problem. But to tell you the truth, I am really grateful to China’s oversight authorities for their lenience and support over the past few years.

To put it another way, although there have been all sorts of problems, Chinese banking authorities’ openness and support for internet banking has been first class. Aside from China, there’s nowhere else in the world that has a truly online bank. China does have one, and it’s developing well, so I very much approve of what China’s regulatory authorities [have been doing].

Advice for young Chinese entrepreneurs:
I think that first, you absolutely have to be optimistic about tomorrow. Every change is an opportunity; without change where would the opportunities for young people be? Many societies have no change, many industries have no change, and they’re totally dominated by old people. To the young, change is a good thing, so trust in the future.

Ten years ago, we [today’s internet giants] were all lost too, we all thought that Bill Gates had taken all the opportunities away. IBM was doing so well, what could we do? Microsoft was doing so well, GE, all industries have a leader. 15 or 20 years ago, who had heard of Google or Facebook? Who had heard of Alibaba or Taobao? […] the changes over these 15 years have been pleasant surprises, and I trust that over the next 15 years there will be more good surprises. Everybody just has to look at them clearly, start small no matter how big your ideals are, and know that even the most successful company has bumps, setbacks, and lots of losses.


Jack Ma on China's rise, its place on the global web, and what young entrepreneurs should do

 

[Viet]

Better to have Chinese quotes than no quotes from poor Vietnam

sure, here is one: a Vietnamese, Philipp Rösler, Managing Director of the WEF World Economic Forum. the yearly event is organised by the club, where Jack Ma is attended this year.

and here is my quote: "not all chinese are retard, but you are definetely one of the most retards". save my quote to your book!

 

[DoTell]

He is so ugly .............

That's probably why he didn't get the KFC job. It's hard to look that ugly

If China were a democracy Jack Ma would never be elected as president, vice president, or even a congressman because of his look. Fortunately we are not, so he still has a chance