Jack Ma envisions ‘small is beautiful’ economy

[webfact]

Jack Ma envisions ‘small is beautiful’ economy
By The Nation

 

In Thailand, cheaper Internet will be a good start

 

For good reasons, Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma is upbeat about Asia's chances when it comes to online businesses. He has predicted that the continent will leapfrog America and Europe in the utilisation of the fast-evolving technology. With a larger number of “poorer” people who are naturally trying to earn their livings by using the Internet, Asians are treating online opportunities as a “main course” while their American or European counterparts may just looking at the Internet as a dessert, he noted.

He is not talking about big corporates, of course. Great American and European firms remain hard to beat, but they face a future that will be full of small, successful entrepreneurs, according to the Chinese tycoon. Thanks to the Internet, future businesses will be compact, small and satisfying, he said. “Small is beautiful. Small is powerful. Small is wonderful,” the Alibaba founder said of the future trend of businesses.

 

A recent visitor to Thailand, Ma, whose statements have been widely circulated on social media, is buoyed by the exponential growth of Internet use for business purposes in China. 

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/today_editorial/30298245

-- © Copyright The Nation 2016-10-24

 

 

[yellowboat]

Somehow it is doubtful that the elites are going to tolerate wider competition if they are not controlling it.  Costs of doing business in Thailand will most likely remain high for the middle and lower classes.  Also, more development needs to take place outside of Bangkok. 

[performance]

Jack Ma is merely using Thais to promote his online selling and buying platforms. His no genius. He simply got in when .com was on fire. My friend did the same thing when mobile phones were never to be big business. No one believed in them. LOL look now. Jacky boy is using his sales skills on the old chest nut Prayut.

[maewang99]

yeah.. we kind of get what he says but... whenever there is any kind of inference about Thailand being small or poor..... it should be pointed out that it's the ****20th richest economy**** in the world, by purchasing power GDP.  yeah....that 50% of everything goes to a tiny fraction ***within*** the top 1% doesn't mean Thailand is small or poor... it means something different.       

[Prbkk]

24 minutes ago, maewang99 said:

yeah.. we kind of get what he says but... whenever there is any kind of inference about Thailand being small or poor..... it should be pointed out that it's the ****20th richest economy**** in the world, by purchasing power GDP.  yeah....that 50% of everything goes to a tiny fraction ***within*** the top 1% doesn't mean Thailand is small or poor... it means something different.       

Where are you seeing 20th by GDP (PPP): I see 74th and 71st on the 2 tables I looked at. 

[elgordo38]

3 hours ago, yellowboat said:

Somehow it is doubtful that the elites are going to tolerate wider competition if they are not controlling it.  Costs of doing business in Thailand will most likely remain high for the middle and lower classes.  Also, more development needs to take place outside of Bangkok. 

Development outside of Bangkok? Now that would be something. Good ole Jack is singing you a lullaby. Lullaby and goodnight. Sleep tight. I see the first new episode of the Walking Dead is out. I wonder if Jack watches it for ideas. 

[MaxLee]

3 hours ago, performance said:

Jack Ma is merely using Thais to promote his online selling and buying platforms. His no genius. He simply got in when .com was on fire. My friend did the same thing when mobile phones were never to be big business. No one believed in them. LOL look now. Jacky boy is using his sales skills on the old chest nut Prayut.

 

I think our dear PM and former general couldn't give a $********** about what Jack Ma or any other foreign entrepreneur says....

[performance]

30 minutes ago, MaxLee said:

 

I think our dear PM and former general couldn't give a $********** about what Jack Ma or any other foreign entrepreneur says....

Either does Mr MA.  So the two have a lot in common

[Grubster]

4 hours ago, yellowboat said:

Somehow it is doubtful that the elites are going to tolerate wider competition if they are not controlling it.  Costs of doing business in Thailand will most likely remain high for the middle and lower classes.  Also, more development needs to take place outside of Bangkok. 

I agree, I think anybody who thinks big business "elites" are going to allow a significant portion of the economy to be controlled by small business is in for a surprise. All small busineses are currently under attack as we speak. World wide.

[Grubster]

3 hours ago, maewang99 said:

yeah.. we kind of get what he says but... whenever there is any kind of inference about Thailand being small or poor..... it should be pointed out that it's the ****20th richest economy**** in the world, by purchasing power GDP.  yeah....that 50% of everything goes to a tiny fraction ***within*** the top 1% doesn't mean Thailand is small or poor... it means something different.       

So if you had a country of one million with one trillionaire and the rest toiling in near bondage conditions, you would call that a rich economy?

[fruitman]

The Thai have no idea about doing fair business except that chinese/thai guy from CP and Makro and 711 and the rest he owns. They all fear competition hence they won't show retailprices.

 

Now there's big competition from Banggood.com but the Thai act like it doesn't exist and have never heard about it.

[impulse]

4 hours ago, Prbkk said:

Where are you seeing 20th by GDP (PPP): I see 74th and 71st on the 2 tables I looked at. 

 

Higher in total GDP, lower in GDP per capita.

[impulse]

If Jack Ma has his way, we won't just have 100 kiosks in MBK selling the identical junk at exactly the same price, we'll have 1500 vendors on AliExpress or Lazada selling the identical junk at exactly the same price.  With him taking a cut instead of the people who invest in bricks, mortar and retail jobs.

 

Give the guy credit, but if China hadn't effectively locked out Google, Amazon and EBay, he'd have a tiny little B2B website.

[attento]

Sellers need buyers.   If it is the "poorer" people trying to make a living by selling,  who are their customers ? 

Is it likely that "poorer" peoples will have anything of value to sell,  or are they selling cheap tat back to other poor people.  

Sure they can create a lot of net traffic,  but no great economy.

The money is made by those offering online sales platforms.

Does any such organisation come to mind,  Mr Ma ?