Episode Details

Strategies for Underdogs: How Alibaba’s Taobao Beat eBay in China | Cold Call

21 Jun 2023

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In 2007, Alibaba’s Taobao became China’s leading consumer e-commerce marketplace, displacing the once dominant eBay. How did underdog Taobao do it? And will it be able to find a way to monetize its marketplace and ensure future success? Harvard Business School professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee discusses his case, “Alibaba’s Taobao,” (https://store.hbr.org/product/alibaba-s-taobao-a/709456?sku=709456-PDF-ENG) and related strategy lessons from his new book, Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance. This episode originally aired on Cold Call on July 13, 2021. You can also listen to this episode on HBR.org, and wherever you listen to podcasts: - HBR.org (transcript available here): https://hbr.org/podcast/2021/07/strategies-for-underdogs-how-alibabas-taobao-beat-ebay-in-china - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strategies-for-underdogs-how-alibabas-taobao-beat-ebay/id1156646189?i=1000528732591 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Nqto2Ht84orCG8tWWB3Lb?si=6c64dd3d99fb4c72 - Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/cold-call/episode/strategies-for-underdogs-how-alibabas-taobao-beat-ebay-in-china-85390546 - Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmhhcnZhcmRidXNpbmVzcy5vcmcvaGFydmFyZGJ1c2luZXNzL2NvbGQtY2FsbA/episode/dGFnOmF1ZGlvLmhici5vcmcsMjAxNi0wOS0xNjpjb2xkLWNhbGwuMDE1Mg?sa=X&ved=0CAIQuIEEahcKEwi4yMi53dL_AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQLA Series Description: Harvard Business School’s legendary case studies, distilled into podcast form. About Harvard Business Review: Harvard Business Review is the leading destination for smart management thinking. Through its flagship magazine, books, and digital content and tools published on HBR.org, Harvard Business Review aims to provide professionals around the world with rigorous insights and best practices to help lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact. Learn more at www.hbr.org. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 3:27 – Network Effects 5:44 – About Alibaba and Jack Ma 9:36 – eBay Sizing Up China / Meg Whitman 11:59 ¬– Taobao’s Local Knowledge Advantage 13:57 – Taobao’s Early Strategic Decisions 19:51 – Underdog Platform vs. Asset-based Companies 23:02 – Taobao’s Revenue Model 26:32 – Outro Follow Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/harvard-business-review/ https://www.facebook.com/HBR/ https://twitter.com/HarvardBiz https://www.instagram.com/harvard_business_review/ Sign up for Newsletters: https://hbr.org/email-newsletters #HarvardBusinessReview #business #management #harvardbusinessschool Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

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