Alibaba’s Jack Ma Tells U.S. Companies to Stop Whining About China

Magnate tells firms to ‘follow the rules’ and plan for the long term

Companies that struggle here may simply not be taking the right approach, Mr. Ma said Tuesday at a prominent internet forum.

“I gave advice to Jeff Bezos 10 years ago,” Mr. Ma said, referring to Amazon.com Inc.’s chief executive. “I said: ‘Please send people with entrepreneurial spirit, not professional management. Because wherever you go, doing business in another country is very difficult.’”

.. “Give me five examples of Chinese companies that succeed in America,” he said. “Or Asian companies that succeed in America. Because it’s not easy to do business across nations, it takes time.”

.. Mr. Ma’s comparison is flawed, said Kenneth Jarrett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. He said American firms have been active in China for a long time, while Chinese companies are just making inroads in the U.S.

.. Mr. Ma said foreign firms must be prepared to abide by China’s laws and not expect quick success.

“When you determine to come, prepare for it. Follow the rules and laws and spend 10 years,”

.. Facebook and Google cannot be accessed in China without VPNs, but both companies have been exploring ways to increase their presence here.

Five Men Now Hold as Much Wealth as Half of the World’s Population Combined

A new analysis of 2016 data shows that five men now possess as much wealth as half of the world’s population combined. The five men—Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Spanish businessman Amancio Ortega, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, American investor Warren Buffett and Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim—combined hold $400 billion. Slim is a major shareholder in The New York Times, while Bezos owns The Washington Post.

Jeff Bezos: Process as Proxy for Customer. Disagree and Commit

Good process serves you so you can serve customers. But if you’re not watchful, the process can become the thing. This can happen very easily in large organizations. The process becomes the proxy for the result you want. You stop looking at outcomes and just make sure you’re doing the process right. Gulp. It’s not that rare to hear a junior leader defend a bad outcome with something like, “Well, we followed the process.” A more experienced leader will use it as an opportunity to investigate and improve the process. The process is not the thing. It’s always worth asking, do we own the process or does the process own us? In a Day 2 company, you might find it’s the second.

.. use the phrase “disagree and commit.” This phrase will save a lot of time. If you have conviction on a particular direction even though there’s no consensus, it’s helpful to say, “Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it? Disagree and commit?” By the time you’re at this point, no one can know the answer for sure, and you’ll probably get a quick yes.

.. I disagree and commit all the time. We recently greenlit a particular Amazon Studios original. I told the team my view: debatable whether it would be interesting enough, complicated to produce, the business terms aren’t that good, and we have lots of other opportunities. They had a completely different opinion and wanted to go ahead. I wrote back right away with “I disagree and commit and hope it becomes the most watched thing we’ve ever made.” Consider how much slower this decision cycle would have been if the team had actually had to convince me rather than simply get my commitment.

.. “You’ve worn me down” is an awful decision-making process. It’s slow and de-energizing. Go for quick escalation instead – it’s better.