Jack Ma and Forrest Gump
We analyzed the case about “Southwest Airlines targets Canadian expansion” in class. One of the negative factors for it to access Canadian market is the protection for its domestic industry. Foreign companies are not easy to be admitted and to gain recognition. On September 18th, Alibaba was listed in the United State, which was the opening shot of expanding market in the United State. Alibaba’s initial public offering was 320 million shares priced at $68 each, thereby raising $25 billion. Alibaba shares popped to $93.89 on the first day of trading, which reached an historical highest price peak. Alibaba is not the first firm that has been floated on the stock market in the United States, but why does it gain more recognition than the others?
One reason is that the founder of Alibaba and a good story teller, Jack Ma defines the success of Alibaba more like an American dream. Jack Ma has already had his own quotes of being success, such as “what is failure: giving up is the greatest failure” and “what your duties are: to be more diligent, hardworking and ambitious than others”. He also always mentions Forrest Gump, which is a classical firm about American dream in his speech. Americans are attracted by his “American dream” and the increase of Chinese economy. World even published an article “What Jack Ma can re-teach America” on its website. Promoting the theory of “American dream in China” may be a good method to adverse itself and expand its market.
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