By Tarun
Chhetri and Kathy
Tims
For our paper, we decided to compare two prominent e-commerce firms: India's Flipkart and China's Alibaba.
What is
E-commerce?
Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, is a term
used for any type of business, commercial transaction, or transfer of
information across the Internet. The business of e-commerce covers a wide range
of categories from consumer based retail sites, through auction or music sites,
to business exchanges trading goods and services between corporations. Electronic
commerce runs on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funding
transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction process,
electronic data interchange, inventory management systems and automated data
collection systems.[i]
E-commerce has boomed over the past five
years. Business to Business, or B2B, is a type of business in which e-commerce
transactions are held between businesses rather than between a business and
consumer. B2B businesses deal with thousands of other businesses and anyone can
access the business as customers or suppliers.[ii]
In this paper we will look at two important
e-commerce firms: one from India and another from China. We will be evaluating
the following information on both the firms:
1.
Historical
Background of the firms.
2.
Comparative
financial data,
3.
Products
and services,
4.
Relationship
to the government,
5.
Ownership
of the firms,
6.
Competitive
environment of the firms
7.
Future
prospects.
Both the
countries are expending their business opportunities and luring other countries
to invest into their economies. In the
case of India, recently elected Prime Minister Narandar Modi, has emphasized in
his statement, “This is the age of online marketing, so accept modern science
and make us of it.”
Historical background on the firm:
Flipkart
E-commerce
is growing in India with the annual rate of 34%, according to the Internet and Mobile
Association of India, an industry trade group. The total worth of India’s
online retail industry accounts for less than 1% of the country’s $500 billion
present trade market although most of it remains cash driven.[iii]
Flipkart CEO has total faith in the firm and believes that in about five years the business will be
worth $100 billion. “
We wish to be the first $100 billion Internet company from India,” Sachin
Bansal, co-founder and CEO at the company was quoted in The Economic Times.[iv]
Two
computer-engineering students, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal of Indian
Institute of Technology Delhi, created Flipkart. Both the engineers grew up in
Chandigarh in Northwest India, and worked for the same American technology
firm. They met in Delhi in 2005 and, two years later, used $10,000 of their
savings to set up an e-commerce business in a flat in Bangalore delivering
books to peoples’ homes. At present Flipkart is India’s largest e-commerce
company. [v]
In
2008, Flipkart introduced 24/7 consumer support services. The firm has it’s own
philosophy of ‘making better our service promise’. The company’s customer
service executives are trained to take spot decisions. In 2010, for the first
time, Filpkart launched the service called ‘Cash on Delivery’. This extending service
like cash-on-delivery and credit card payment were introduced for the customer’s
comfort and satisfaction since online shopping was very new concept in India,
most customers either didn’t have credit or debit cards, or were afraid to use them
due to security issues. Flipkart, allowed
its customers to pay cash upon delivery and allowed them return purchased
items, when the delivery person arrives at their door. In the same year,
customers were also able to buy music in MP3 format from over 700 genres, and
in 55 languages. The company has its own warehouses.[vi]
Source:
[vii]
Flipkart is the only online player offering services like its In-a-Day Guarantee (in 50 Cities) and
Same-Day-Guarantee (in 13 Cities). It has now become the one and only online
marketplace for leading Indian and International brands, Flipkart is partnered
with local artisans and manufacturers, Having tied up with the (FISME) and NCDPD.
[viii]
In 2011, Flipkart acquired the rights to
Chakpak’s digital catalogue, which gives access to Bollywood news, photos and
videos. In 2012, Flipkart had bought Letsbuy.com for US $25 million;
Letsbuy.com is an Indian e-retailer in electronics.[ix]
In an Rs 1,500 Crore deal, Flipkart acquired Myntra.com in 2014.
Flipkart, currently has 12,000 employees. A
report in the Times of India states that out of 12,000 employees, 7000 of staff
is focused on delivery. The company is thinking to give some shares of the
company to the employers, that means if the company’s shares would go high to
market price, employees will also get richer.[x]
Alibaba
Alibaba is a Chinese e-commerce firm, which
provides consumer-to consumer, business-to-business and business-to-consumer
services through the Internet. Its 18 founders established Alibaba Group, led
by Jack Ma, who was an English literature teacher. This company was started in
Mr. Ma’s apartment, and now employs around 24,000 workers.[xi]
Alibaba Group launched China market place, which is currently known as 1688.com
for domestic whole trade. In 2000, Alibaba group raised US $20 million from an
investor group led by Softbank, Goldman Sachs, just after this million $
investment, the group had organized the first West Lake Summit, in which
Internet business and thought leaders were present.
In 2001, Alibaba Group expressed its mission
and corporate values; this was the year, when for the first time Alibaba.com
became cash flow positive and successfully registered 1 million users.
In 2003, this group trained their staff in the
spite of the SARS epidemic and quarantine to prevent staff from coming to work.
Later, Taobao was founded as a marketplace for online shopping. Taobao was
China’s largest consumer-to-consumer online shopping platform.
Source: [xii]
In 2004, Alibaba Group raised US $82 from
several first-tier investors in the largest private equity commitment. This was
the first ever in the Chinese Internet sector. Netrepreneur Summit was called,
in which Internet entrepreneurs were gathered. Later, Aliwangwang was launched
on Taobao Marketplace, which was a personal computer-based instant messaging
tool that facilitates text, audio and video communication between byers and
sellers. Alipay was also launched in the same year; this was a third-party
online payment platform with no transaction fees. Another benefit of this
service is buyers can verify whether they are happy with goods they have bought
from the group before transferring money to the seller. [xiii]
In 2005, Alibaba group succeeded yahoo
partnership with forms of strategic partnership with Yahoo, and took over the
operations of China Yahoo. The establishment of Taobao university program was
launched, which provides e-commerce training and education to buyers and
sellers.
In 2007, Alibaba.com successfully registered on
the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In 2008, Taobao established
Taobao Mall (Tmall.com). It was dedicated for third-party brands and retailers,
and was established to complement Taobao Marketplace and consumer-to-consumer
marketplace. In the same year Alibaba Group R&D Institute was also
establish.
In 2009, the group established Alibaba Cloud
Computing in conjunction with Alibaba Group. Alibaba Cloud Computing was aimed
to build cloud computing service platforms, which had included e-commerce data
mining e-commerce data processing, and data customization. Alibaba.com also
announced the acquisition of HiChina, which was China’s leading Internet
infrastructure service provider.
In 2010, Alibaba Group had funded 0.3% of its
revenues in environmental protection initiatives in China and around the world.
Taobao Marketplace introduced Juhuasuan.com, a group shopping website in China
which later became a separate business. In the same year, Alibaba.com
officially launched AliExpress to enable exporters in China to reach and
directly transact with consumers around the world.
In 2011, Taobao Mall, which is currently known
as Tmall.com, was working on independent platform. Juhuasuan also spun off from
Taobao Marketplace as an independent firm. In the same year, Alibaba Cloud
Computing launched its first self-developed mobile operating system, Aliyun OS,
over K-Touch Cloud Smartphone.
In 2014, for the first time, Alibaba Group
began the process of filling for an initial public offering in the U.S. on 6
May 2014, Alibaba Group registered
documents to go public in the U.S, which is in a way one of the biggest
initial public offering in American history. This Group has now also agreed to
take 50 % stake in Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club, winners of the 2013 AFC
Champions League. [xiv]
Comparative financial data on
Flipkart and Alibaba-
The
Chinese E-commerce industry is mush bigger the Indian E-commerce industry. The
e-commerce firms in China accounts three quarters of activity by
next-generation Indian e-commerce firms. The real achievement of Indian
e-commerce firms has been to form reliable supply systems and chains in a
country where some of the few things work smoothly.
Flipkart
is a leading firm in India and has its own warehouses and delivery terms. It
facilitates its customers with cash on delivery since many of the people in
India are reluctant to use credit cards. India’s e-commerce industry needs
billions of dollars and foreign investment to grow.[xv]
To start the company, founders had to spend around 400,000 Rs. It later
raised funding through ventur funds from Accel India (US$ 1 million in 2009)
and Tiger Global (US$10 million in June 2011) . Founders of Flipkart Sachin
Bansal and Binny Bansal have sold around 40% stake in the e-commerce till now. In
2012, Flipkart has announced the completion of its 4th round of $150
million funidng from MIH ( Naspers Group) and ICONIQ capital. On 10 July, 2013,
it had rasied a $200 million from exerting investors including Tiger Global,
Naspers, accel Partners and Iconiq Capital. On 26 May 2014, Flipkart has raised
$ 210 million from Yuri Milner’s DST Global and its investors Tiger Global,
Naspers and Iconiq Capital. On 29 July 2014, Flipkart has raised $ 1 billion
from Tiger Global Management LLC, Accel Partners, and Morgan Stanley Investment
Management and new investor singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC.[xvi]
The yearly finanacial data of Flipkart is given below
1.
Flipkart’s sales were Rs 40
million in financial year 2008-2009.
2.
Rs 200 million in financial year
2009-2010 and Rs 750 million in financial year 2010-2011.
3.
In Financial year of 2011-2012 ,
it set to cross Rs 5 billion (US $100 million) because internet users were
increased and most of the Indian
population started holding Credit Cards.
4.
Flipkart
in 2014 has projected it sales to reach by Rs 10 billion.
5.
Flipkart
on an average sells 10 products per minute, and it is aiming to generate
revenue of Rs 50 billion by 2015. [xvii]
([xviii])
Alibaba
financial Data-
China’s e-commerce behemoth had a market
capitalization of $ 168 billion as it started trading on New York’s Stock
Exchange. The transactions last year over its websites totaled nearly $250
billion, compared with $116 billion for
Amazon, the American E-commerce giant, and
$1 billion for Flipkart. Indian e-commerce has no comparison to Chinese
e-commerce, whether it is Alibaba or JD.com. With this year records, Alibaba
handles almost 500 orders daily, which is worth of more than $9000 on an
average. An average buyer around the world spends over $1000 a year, where as
the figure is very less as compared to Flipkart.[xix]
Alibaba signed up 24 million new active buyers in the three months to June, and
the value of transaction was 45% higher than is the same period of 2013.
Alibaba’s operating margin in the year to march
was surprising around 47%. Alibaba attracts more shoppers, merchants display
their goods, and it also lures more buyers. The last set of financial data
before the company went to I.P.O, products development costs rose by 70%,
although sales and marketing expenses nearly doubled. Alibaba has no ownership
stake, and it receives 37.5% of the unit’s pretax and has a right to the same
proportion of its equity value in an eventual I.P.O.
International sales of the firm accounted for
less than a tenth of revenue in the most recent financial year. But a recent
partnership with Singapore Post clearly states that the company is seriously
willing to look beyond China’s boarders. Alibaba and its affiliates, so far in
this financial year have spend around $ 7.5 billion on acquisitions and
investments because company has pushed into industries form media to mapping.
One of the major drawback of Alibaba is that, China has a ruling communist
party which can cut Alibaba down to size if it were deemed too powerful.[xx]
Alibaba is exposed to battles over accounting regulation and the semi-legal
structures of the other companies use to control their mainland operations like
Flipkart.
Products
and Services-
Flipkart.com is an India’s leading e-commerce
company and marketplace, which have over 19 million products across 70+
categories. The main categories are
1.
Mobiles
2.
Televisions
3.
Computer
Accessories
4.
Software
and Antivirus
5.
Larger
Appliances
6.
Health
Care Devices
7.
Gaming
8.
Audio
and Video etc.
Services
Provided By Flipkart-
1.
Membership
2.
My Account and Registration
3.
Platform for Transaction and
Communication
4.
Disclaiming services
5.
Contents Posting on Website
6.
Privacy
7.
Disclaimer of Warranties and
Liabilities
8. Selling
9.
Wallet pre-paid payments, refill of wallet,
refund of wallet Amount.
10. 30 Days Replacement Guarantee
11. Digital Content: Music
12. Software
13. Digital content: eBooks
14. Payments by Credit cards, Internet Banking,
Debit Cards, Wallet, Cash on Delivery.
Products
on Alibaba
1.
Crude
Oil
2.
Contracts
and Tickets
3.
Gold,
Silver and Other precious Metals
4.
Real
Estate
5.
Software
6.
Wildlife
and Animal Products
7.
Tabaco
Products
8.
Police-Related
items
9.
Circumvention
Devices and Hacking Equipment
10
.
Hazardous Materials
11
. Foods
12
. Firearms, Ammunition, Weapons, Explosives,
etc.
Services Provided by Alibaba.
1.
Alipay
China, Alipay Europe, Alipay US
2.
Online
Transactions
3.
Escrow
of payments- Buyers of an online Transactions shall pay the full transaction
price under the Online Transactions in clear funds to the bank account or other
accounts using the payments methods both designated by Alipay on the
Alibaba.com Sites
4.
User’s
Responsibilities- All Online Transactions are concluded by and between Users
only
5.
Personal
Data Privacy
6.
Suspension
or Breakdown of system
7.
Disclaimer
and Limitation of Liability
8.
Jurisdiction
9. Consumer-to-consumer,
business-to-consumer and business-to-business sales services via web portals. [xxi]
Relationship
to the Government
Alibaba and Flipkart have varying relationships
to the government of their respective countries.
Flipkart’s business structuring falls into a
“grey area of the law” as far as FDI rules are concerned.[xxii]
In India, companies with FDI are not permitted to do e-commerce in multi- or
single-brand retail. However, like many India e-commerce companies, Flipkart
has restructured itself to get around these guidelines. Originally, this was
accomplished by using “the two-company route.” [xxiii]
WS Retail in was set up in 2009[xxiv]
as a Business to Customer entity (B2C) turning Flipkart Online Services (FOS)
into a wholesale business (B2B). Flipkart has since sold WS Retail although it
still accounts for more than 75% of Flipcart’s business. [xxv]
In 2011, the holding company, Flipkart Pvt. Ltd was set up in Singapore and is
the holding entity for most of its various entities. Now, Flipkart functions as
a marketplace that charges its vendors a commission on each sale.[xxvi]
Chart of
Flipkart’s structure [xxvii]
Due to the questionable legality of Flipkart’s
structure, India’s Enforcement Directorate was told to investigate if it had
violated the policy prohibiting foreign-funded retail operation when it
received millions in FDI from 2008-2012 and determined that it was safely
within the gray area.[xxviii]
In China, the role of the state and Party is
pervasive in almost all private organizations. As the government can make or
break any business, to gain support it is important for a business demonstrate
how it provides value for the country and city/province. [xxix]
For instance, Alibaba’s been in investing in industries that are outside their
core interests, but that Beijing wants shaken up. One example of this is the
money-marker fund Alipay launched last year that shook up China’s sclerotic
state banking system.[xxx]
Also, Alibaba has connections to the Politburo as four of the Chinese companies
investing in it have had executives who are either sons or grandsons of the
Standing Committee. Such connections are helpful for securing deals and are
considered to be potentially advantageous in China’s competitive business
environment.[xxxi]
Similar to Flipkart, Alibaba’s method for getting FDI is a “grey area in the
Chinese legal system.” The government is inclined to “look the other way”
though[xxxii]
Ownership
of the Firm
Flipkart is a private company. Most of
Flipkarts entities are owned by Flipkart Pvt. Ltd, a holding Singapore-based
holding company.[xxxiii]
Sachin and Binny Bansal and their senior management currently control about 25%
of Flipkart.[xxxiv]
Tiger Global, a US-based hedge fund holds close to 30%.[xxxv]
Accel Partners, a venture capital firm,[xxxvi]
and Naspers, a global platform operator,[xxxvii]
are the other two entities with whom ownership of the firm largely rests.[xxxviii]
Alibaba went public this September with a
record-breaking Initial Public Offering (IPO) of $25 billion.[xxxix]
The top five principle shareholders are Softbank (32.4%), Yahoo (16.3%), Jack
Ma (7.8%), Joseph Tsai (3.2%), and Silver Lake affiliated entities (2.2%).[xl]
However, it is important to note that under Chinese law it is illegal for
foreigners to own stock in internet companies. The stock owned by foreign
investors is actually for a Variable Interest Entity (VIE) which is a holding
company that owns a Chinese subsidiary which in turn has a contract with the
original firm, Alibaba in this case. The contract both entitles the subsidy to
the profits of the original firm and obligates it to the firm’s debts.[xli]
The relationship looks something like this:[xlii]
In this arrangement, the
foreign holding company with its Chinese subsidiary don’t technically have any
control of the original firm. The danger in this was seen in 2011 when Jack Ma
unilaterally removed AliPay from Alibaba because the People’s Bank of China had
announced new rules that would have limited AliPay’s ability to operate if it
remained a part of Alibaba’s partnership with Yahoo. While the two companies
eventually came to terms on compensation to Yahoo, most financial analysts
considered them to be very unfavorable to Yahoo.[xliii]
Competitive
Environment of the Firm
Although it is India’s largest e-commerce firm,[xliv]
Flipkart is not without competition – both online and off. According to a
survey by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, in 2013 the e-commerce
market grew 88% and competition is heating up. Among the competition is
Snapdeal, an online retail marketplace that became the fourth Indian e-tailer
to be valued at $1 billion in May,[xlv]
and Amazon Marketplace. In India, Amazon is a platform for third-party
retailers rather than a retailer, but has a wider range of offerings and deeper
pockets than Flipkart.[xlvi]
Furthermore, when Flipkart’s “Big Billion Sale” went awry, Snapdeal filled in
with better discounts, offers and services gaining it positive reviews and an
experience that could potentially play a role in brand loyalty.[xlvii]
Offline, some traditional retailers have had their sales drop more than 35-40%
during the last three months due to the online firms’ marketing blitz.[xlviii]
Not about to go down without a fight, dozens of these retailers have banded
together and written to the Competition Commission of India complaining that
their online counterparts are skirting the laws on FDI and selling goods below
cost.[xlix]
Chinese government policies have made the
country very inhospitable to foreign companies while regulators appear eager to
target them for alleged misdeeds.[l]
This reduces competition on the home front from foreign companies; however
competition within China is still stiff. Smaller rivals chip away at its
business and competitors differentiate themselves via specialization.[li]
Domestically, some of Alibaba’s biggest competitors are Baidu, an internet
search company, and Tencent, a social media and internet games company. In
recent years, internet users in China have shifted to mobile. Percentage of
Chinese interested in buying goods and services via mobile devices has gone up
from 30% three or four years ago to around 85% - a shift most beneficial to
Tencent with its mobile messaging service WeChat. Recently, Tencent bought a
stake in JD.com, the second largest e-commerce site after Alibaba.[lii]
Although JD only accounted for 22.4% of the B2C market in 2013 compared to
Alibaba’s 50.1%, the combination of JD’s 100+ million users with WeChat’s 600+
million accounts could be a serious threat to Alibaba’s number one status.[liii]
Another challenge comes from the fact that Dalian Wanda, a real estate
developer, has joined both Tencent and Baidu in a joint venture with plans to
allow customers to find deals at Wanda’s hotels, shopping centers, and cinemas
using Tencent’s apps and Baidu’s maps.[liv]
Offline, China’s banks are striking back against money market funds such as
Alibaba’s Yu’ebao by lobbying regulators to introduce curbs on the growth of
non-banks’ online funds. Meanwhile, they are creating their own cash-on-demand
money market products and tweaking their wealth management products,
alternatives to traditional savings deposits with higher yields, to make them
more competitive with the online money market funds.[lv]
Future
Prospects
Currently, Flipkart’s focus is on growing market share[lvi]
and not profitability.[lvii]
As company data showed an increase in women shoppers, women's fashion was seen
as a strategic focus.[lviii]
Towards this end, it aquired Myntra, a fashion and apparel e-tailer that was
one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in India.[lix]
This aquisition gives Flipkart possession of about 50% of the organized
lifestyle market in India – a figure it plans to increase to 70%.[lx]
As yet, Flipkart has no plans to go public in the near future.[lxi]
China’s e-commerce market is forecast to be bigger than the existing markets
of America, Britain, Germany, France, and Japan combined by 2020.[lxii]
As the penetration rate for e-commerce in China is only about 9% , penetration
rate is a major focus for growth.[lxiii]
Alibaba intends to focus on expanding into second- and third-tier Chinese cities
in the near future, while comprehensively preparing for globalization in the
next three to five years.[lxiv]
Towards this end, it has been investing in any company that is believed will
bring more customers or will improve its customers’ experience.[lxv]
It also has made plans to streamline deliveries by establishing warehouses at
critical chokepoints and pledged to invest 100 billion renminbi for an
initiative to link up third-party companies that deliver its shipments in order
to anticipate orders better and make deliveries more efficient.[lxvi]
[i] Wikipedia. (2014) E-commerce. [Online] 30 november 2014. Available
from:
[ii]
Network Solutions. (2014) What is Ecommerce? [Online] 2014. Available from:
[iii]
The New York Times. (2014) by Max Bearak, The New Bazaar: In
India, Online
Stores Catch On With Buyers. [Online] 29 July 2014. Available from: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/the-new-bazaar-online-shopping-catches-on-in-india-with-buyers-and-global-investors/?_r=0
[iv]
Yahoo Finance.(2014) by Simplus Information Services.[Online]
30th July 2014.
[v]
The Economist. (2011) Looking for the next Infosys. [Online]
Oct 22nd 2011.
[vi]Choudhary, U.(2012) The Flipkart story. The Hindu. [Online] 7 April 2012.
[vii]
Flipkart.(2014) The Flipkart Story.[Online] 2014. Available
from:
[viii]
Flipkart.(2014). Flipkart’s Board of Directors. [Online] 13th
November 2014.
[ix]
Choudhary, U.
[x]
Yahoo Finance.(2014) by Simplus Information Services.[Online]
30th July 2014.
[xi]
The Economist.(2013) The World’s Greatest Bazaar.
[Online] 23rd March 2013.
[xii]
Securities and Exchange. Alibaba Group Holding Limited.
Available from:
[xiii]
Alibaba. (1990) History and Milestomes. [Online] 1990. Available from:
[xiv]
Alibaba.(2014) Alibaba Group. [Online] 2014. Available from:
[xv]
The Economist.(2013) The Screen Revolution.[Online] 16th
March 2013. Available
[xvi]
Wikipedia.(2014) Flipkart. [Online] 1 December 2014.
Available from:
[xvii]
Wikipedia.(2014) Flipkart.
[xviii]
Kamath, R. (2014) Investors value Flipkart at 5 times its sales. Business Standard.
[Online] 11 October 2013. Available from: http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/investors-value-flipkart-at-5-times-its-sales-113101000948_1.html
[xix]
The Economist.(2014) How Alibaba measures up. [Online] 19 Sep
2014.
[xx]
The Economist.(2013) The Alibaba phenomenon. [Online] 23rd
March 2013.
[xxi]
Alibaba.(2014) Services. [online] 27 January 2014. Available
from:
[xxii]
Prasad, G. C. (2014) Enforcement Directorate probe finds no FDI violation by
Flipkart. Financial Express. [online] 16 October 2014. Available from: http://ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/docview/1220464373?accountid=13584
[xxiii]
Verma, S. (2012) FDI Escapades. Business
World. [online] 22 September 2012.
[xxiv]
Verma, S. and Dalal, M. (2014) Inside Flipkart’s complex structure. Live Mint.
[online] 25 November 2014.
Available from: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/VXr8oJzNJ4daOYSO5wNETN/Inside-Flipkarts-complex-structure.html
[xxv]
Verma, S. and Dalal, M.
[xxvi]
Lerner, A. B. (2014) How Flipkart Dodged India’s E-Commerce Laws. The
Caravan. [online] 23 June 2014. Available from: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/flipkart-dodged-laws
[xxvii]
Verma, S. and Dalal, M.
[xxviii]
Prasad, G. C.
[xxix]
Abrami, et al. Achieving Commercial Success in China. [online] Available from:
[xxx]
Alibaba’s Political Risk. The Wall Street
Journal. [online]. 19 September 2014.
[xxxi]
Forsythe, M. (2014) Alibaba’s connections reach highest levels of public life:
Review of shareholders shows
ties to relatives of China’s political elite. International New York Times. [online] 21 July 2014. Available
from: http://ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1546144703?accountid=13584
[xxxii]
Clover, C. (2014) Alibaba IPO shows foreign investors able to skirt
restrictions. Financial Times. [online] 7 May 2014.
Available from: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/7a8c4816-d5df-11e3-a017-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3KzbtEziI
[xxxiii]
Verma, S. and Dalal, M.
[xxxiv]
Phadnis, S. (2013) Flipkart founders, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, get
million dollar paychecks. The Economic Times. [online] 15 October
2013. Available from: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-10-15/news/43068438_1_binny-bansal-flipkart-dragoneer
[xxxv]
Verma, S. and Dalal, M.
[xxxvi]
Facebook. (2014) Accel Partners: About.
[online] Available from:
[xxxvii]
Naspers. (2014) Our Group. [online]
Available from:
[xxxviii]
Verma, S. and Dalal, M.
[xxxix]
Gough, N. (2014) Alibaba I.P.O. Underwriters Increase Deal Size to Record-
Setting $25 billion. The New York Times. [online] 22
September 2014. Available from: http://dealbook.nytimes.com//2014/09/22/alibabas-i-p-o-raises-25-billion-to-set-global-record/
[xl]
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (2014) Principal and Selling Shareholders.
[online] Available from: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1577552/000119312514347620/d709111d424b4.htm#toc709111_19
[xli]
Ford, J. (2014) No one who bought Alibaba stock actually owns Alibaba. The
Diplomat. [online] 24 September 2014. Available from: http://thediplomat.com/2014/09/no-one-who-bought-alibaba-stock-actually-owns-alibaba/
[xlii]
Damodaran, A. (2014) Alibaba’s Governance
by Politburo: Corporate
Governance and Value. [online] 16 September 2014. Available from: http://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/2014/09/alibabas-governance-by-politburo.html
[xliii]
Ford, J.
[xliv]
Verma, S. and Dalal, M.
[xlv]
Saini, M. (2014) Flipkart buys Myntra in Indian e-tail deal. WWD. [online] 23
[xlvi]
Sen, S. (2013) Flipkart’s biggest rival, Amazon, is here. Business Today in.
[online] 6 June 2013.
Available from: http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/flipkarts-biggest-rival-amazon-makes-india-entry/1/195622.html
[xlvii]
Soni, A. & Mishra, D. (2014) Flipkart’s loss is competitor’ gain. Business
Standard. [online] 7 October 2014. Available from: http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/flipkart-s-loss-is-competitors-gain-114100700024_1.html
[xlviii]
Wadke, R. & Kurup, R. (2014) Booming e-tail sounds death knell for
electronic retailers across
the country. Businessline. 20
November 2014. Available from: http://ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/docview/1626454061?accountid=13584
[xlix]
Medonca, J. & Nandakumar, I. (2014) Price war: Retailers write to CCI;
accuse
e-tailers of predatory
pricing. The Economic Times. [online]
5 November 2014. Available from: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-11-05/news/43695006_1_traditional-retailers-flipkart-predatory-pricing
[l]
Einhorn, B. (2014) How China’s government set up Alibaba’s success.
Blomberg Businessweek. [0nline] 7 May 2014. Available from: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-07/how-chinas-government-set-up-alibabas-success
[li]
Knowledge@Wharton. (2014) Alibaba’s next
move: Grow Abroad, or go deeper
into China? [online] Available from: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/alibabas-next-move/
[lii]
Gittleson, K. (2014) Tencent and Alibaba battle for internet dominance in
China. BBC News. [online] 18 March 2014. Available from: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26540666?print=true
[liii]
Jing, M. & Yuan, G. (2014) Alliance of Tencent, JD could be a giant slayer.
China
Daily, International ed. [online] 11 March 2014. Available from: http://ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/docview/1552897541?accountid=13584
[liv]
The Economist (2014) After the float; Alibaba. [online] 6 September 2014.
[lv]
Wildau, G. (2014) Banks strike back against threat from internet finance.
Reuters. [online] 23 February 2014. Available from: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/23/uk-china-banks-online-idUKBREA1M12I20140223
[lvi]
Sen, S.
[lvii]
Kazmin, A. (2014) India’s e-retailers gear up for turf war. Ft.com. [online] 11
August 2014. Available from: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d3f71204-1cbc-11e4-b4c7-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3LBRuS9ko
[lviii]
Basal, S. (2014) Shop the way you like. The
Hindu: Business Line. [online] 2
January 2014. Available from: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/weekend-life/shop-the-way-you-like/article5530028.ece
[lix]
Saini, M.
[lx]
Banerjee, A. (2014) Flipkart vs Amazon: Future prospects in India. MBA Skool.
[online] 17 September 2014.
Available from: http://www.mbaskool.com/business-articles/marketing/10461-flipkart-vs-amazon-future-prospects-in-india.html
[lxi]
Kazmin, A.
[lxii]
The Economist (2014) E-commerce in China: The Alibaba phenomenon.
[online] 23 March 2013.
Available from: http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573981-chinas-e-commerce-giant-could-generate-enormous-wealthprovided-countrys-rulers-leave-it
[lxiii]
Business Insider. (2014) Alibaba vice chairman Joseph Tsai describes the
moment when he asked Jack Ma
for a job. [online] 14 November 2014. Available from: http://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-vice-chairman-joseph-tsai-interview-2014-11
[lxiv]
Shu, C. (2014) Singles’ Day underscores the importance of mobile and lower-
tier cities for China’s
e-commerce companies. TechCrunch.
[online] 11 November 2014. Available From: http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/11/singles-day-underscores-the-importance-of-mobile-and-lower-tier-cities-for-chinas-e-commerce-companies/
[lxv]
Business Insider.
[lxvi]
Wang, S. & Mozurnoz, P. (2014) Alibaba and others push to improve delivery
on Single’s Day in China. New York Times. [online] 11 November
2014. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/technology/on-singles-day-in-china-a-push-to-improve-online-shoppings-slow-delivery.html
