Alibaba's leaders are constantly reflecting on the strategic mistakes of the past few years.
On April 3rd, in the latest interview video released by Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund (Norges Bank Investment), Alibaba co-founder and Chairman of the Board, Tsai Chongxin, talked about the fierce competition Alibaba is facing, stating that when Alibaba examines its internal situation and reflects on the past few years, it has found that Alibaba is lagging behind.
"Because we have forgotten who our true customers are. Our customers are users who use our application for shopping, and we have not provided them with the best experience. So to some extent, we are a bit self reliant." Cai Chongxin said that Alibaba must first admit its mistakes and reorganize its personnel. He praised the newly appointed CEO of Alibaba, Wu Yongming, as "very, very focused on users, focusing on products, interfaces, and user experience", which is the most important for Alibaba.
Last November, Alibaba founder Jack Ma also posted on the intranet congratulating Pinduoduo on its decisions, execution, and efforts over the past few years, and "firmly believed that Alibaba will change, Alibaba will change." Reflection on Alibaba, especially Taobao's route over the past few years, seems to be becoming a consensus among Alibaba leaders, and Alibaba's reform and restructuring are also advancing as a result.
"The organizational structure of a large company is fixed, and then they won't change because people don't like to change, don't want to change jobs, and are afraid of being fired. Then the company's (strategic) direction needs to be integrated into the organizational structure. But the fact should not be like this. You should define the direction and then set the company's organization." Cai Chongxin said of Taobao's internal restructuring, and Wu Yongming became the CEO of the group and also the CEO of Taotian Group, which is very different from the team of Taotian Three months ago.
Previously, in December 2023, Wu Yongming announced that Taotian Group would undergo a major organizational adjustment. The digital "80s generation" have become leaders in the core business of Taobao and Tmall. From Cai Chongxin's speech, it can be seen that improving the user experience of Taobao and Tmall, making up for Alibaba's mistakes in the past few years, may become an important indicator for Alibaba Group to consider the new management team of Taobao and Tmall.
Meanwhile, Cai Chongxin believes that the consumption potential of the Chinese consumer market may bring growth potential to Alibaba. "If you look at the entire Chinese economy, China's manufacturing output accounts for about 31% of global consumption, but consumer consumption only accounts for 14% of global consumption. Obviously, there is an imbalance." Cai Chongxin mentioned that currently, the proportion of Chinese consumption in the total economy is lower than that of developed markets, and the Chinese market still has huge consumption potential.
He believes that the downturn in the real estate market and the uncertainty of young people's work have affected their desire to consume, but China's savings rate is very high, households still have abundant cash, and there is still a purchasing power.
In addition, Cai Chongxin also mentioned the challenges China faces in the development of artificial intelligence. "I think China is now lagging behind. It's clear that American companies like OpenAI are indeed ahead of all other companies. But China is working hard to catch up," said Cai Chongxin. If specific, he believes that China may be two years behind the top models.
He mentioned that the restrictions on chips and semiconductors have indeed affected Alibaba Cloud. "In the short term, perhaps in the medium term, this is a problem. However, in the long run, China will develop its own ability to manufacture these high-end GPUs."
At the end of the interview, Cai Chongxin suggested that young people learn one or two very basic skills to enhance their competitiveness. He gave examples of programming, data science, and psychology as subjects worth learning.