Jack Ma’s Leadership Style

Syahmilian Putri

Faculty of Law, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Corresponding Author: aldha.febrila.law21@mail.umy.ac.id

ABSTRACT

The man who was born in 1964 in Hangzhou, Zeijang, China, whose real name is Ma Yun, is the Founder

and Chairman of the E-Commerce giant company.The research method used is a Literature study, which is

a literature activity whose main point of a topic comes from various sources of books, journals, articles, and

papers. So that the following sources are used as guidelines or handles in making scientific papers.Never

giving up, persevering, learning from failures, not afraid to try new things, creative, enterprising and

persistent are some of the traits that must be possessed by a leader, both a leader in a company and an

organization. Jack Ma is a leader of alibaba group who has a very good leadership style because he has the

ability of a leader to never give up in all the failures experienced so that he can achieve success as he is

today.

Keywords

: Jack Ma, Alibaba, Leadership.

Introduction

One of the richest people in China, namely Jack Ma is the largest E-Commerce

Revolutionary in China that we know today is the Alibaba Company. The man who was

born in 1964 in Hangzhou, Zeijang, China, whose real name is Ma Yun, is the Founder

and Chairman of the E-Commerce giant company. He founded Alibaba in 1999, which

over time the E-Commerce company not only grew rapidly and was famous in China but

has go international where all citizens of the world can use or access the Alibaba website

platform. An agreement between countries is the first arrangement in the world that binds

a group of adjacent countries to resolve all disputes that occur between countries. It has

also been considered a global role model for dealing with cross-border issues

. The richest

Yordan Gunawan and Yovi Cajapa Endyka, 2017, The Protection of Small and Medium Enterprises in

Yogyakarta: The Challenges of ASEAN Economic Community, Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 25 (S): 199 -

206 (2017)

man in China once revealed that he would make Alibaba will last for 102 years. Then the

nickname "Crazy Jack Ma" was attached to the small man

Of course, Jack Ma's success did not just come just like that, there were so many

obstacles and failures experienced by him that made him the billionaire he is today. One

of the most important major factors in Jack Ma's success was his leadership while running

and developing Alibaba. Jack Ma himself is a Chairman which means he is someone

whose position is the highest in the company where of course Jack Ma leads a lot and

holds responsibility for the company. There are many influential transnational

corporations (Transnational Corporations) such as IBM or Microsoft that are actually

more powerful economically and politically than most countries in the world. Many

experts say that countries in the world do choose to maintain control over various

companies, rather than accept an equal position as subjects of international law. It is the

developing countries primarily that have concerns about the dominance of transnational

corporations in the national economy, and their influence in the domestic politics and

economy of the host country.

A Leader must be able to influence and provide encouragement and motivation to

others to realize common goals both in the organization and the company. Not only that,

a Leader must also have high creativity to ensure the reliability of a product, either

thing

or services from the company. It is not easy to become a leader if you don't have

leadership traits, of course everyone can become a leader if we learn and understand what

a leader means correctly. The system is an arrangement or of interrelated parts that are

arranged according to a plan or pattern to achieve the overall goal. Law is a system. In

Astrid Savitri. 2017, “45 Cara Kaya Ala Jack Ma”, Genesis Learning (eBook) p.3

Yordan Gunawan, 2021, Pertanggungjawaban Indonesia dalam Pencemaran Asap Batas Lintas Negara,

LP3M UMY, p. 57

other words, law is the rule of social life which is an order composed of interrelated parts.

As a system, the interrelated components, parts, interdependent throughout the

organization are organized and integrated.

"Surrender is a Failure" is a quote from Jack Ma that describes that Jack Ma is a

businessman who started from the first point. There have been many failures that Jack

Ma has experienced but there is not a single failure that makes him give up because Jack

Ma considers himself to have not failed because he has not given up. Jack Ma is not a

smart person but he is a smart person, even Jack Ma himself admits that he is not an expert

in mathematics. But because of his intelligence in making decisions, he managed to

become a successful businessman.

Methods

The research method used is a Literature study, which is a literature activity whose

main point of a topic comes from various sources of books, journals, articles, and papers.

So that the following sources are used as guidelines or handles in making scientific

papers.

3. Results and Discussions

3.1 Jack Ma’s Biography

Jack Ma was born on September 10, 1964 in Hangzhou, China. He is the founder

and chairman of the giant E-Commerce company Alibaba which was founded in 1999 in

China. Alibaba itself has reached up to Go International which can even be a competitor

to other E-Commerce such as Amazon and eBay. This Chinese man Ma yun was born to

a family that arguably has no official or important background, his parents are opera

Yordan Gunawan, 2021, Introduction to Indonesian Legal System, Yogyakarta: UMY Press, p. 10

singers. Even Jack Ma admitted that he had experienced bullying when he was a child

because his friend mocked Jack Ma's small and short body size.

Since elementary school he often scored poorly in Mathematics subjects and was

often rejected when he entered school because of his weakness in mathematics lessons.

Although weak in the field of Mathematics, Jack Ma has advantages in the field of

English. His dream is as a tour guide, in achieving his dream, Jack Ma made a lot of

efforts to achieve his goals, he even willingly became a foreign tourist guide without

being paid just to practice his English. Even during college, Jack Ma could only study at

Hangzhou teacher institute. Jack Ma then taught English at a college with a small income.

When he became a teacher, Jack Ma applied the same learning system when he was

young, which focused more on practicing orally than in theory.

3.1.2 Jack Ma's failure

After graduating from his college, Jack Ma experienced a lot of rejection. More

than 30 companies he has tried to apply for including companies engaged in the Food

sector, namely KFC and the Chinese Police. Jack Ma said that "When KFC entered the

country of China, there were 24 workers who applied and only 23 people were accepted,

1 person was rejected and that was me" then Jack Ma also admitted that he was rejected

in the Chinese police force because his body size was small and short.

"Crazy Jack" is his nickname because he is famous for his authentic crazy idea

while revealing he is going to set up an internet business that will go iinternational, people

just laugh at him and just take it as a joke from a Jack Ma who even his past and life are

very difficult if it is associated with his dreams. "With 1 million US dollars your life

becomes lucky, but when you have 10 million US dollars you will get into trouble" is

Jack Ma's phrase that by working as a teacher he has no burden.

A series of Jack Ma's failures that continue to spice up his life are very valuable

for Jack Ma himself because from his experiences that often fail it makes Jack Ma an

unyielding person and continues to try to achieve his success. Because to become

someone who is influential in the world, of course, you have a strong personality and

mentality than ordinary humans.

3.2

Jack Ma Becomes a Leader

When he became a teacher, Jack Ma was dissatisfied with the income he earned,

he felt that he was lacking in the salary of a teacher, which finally made Jack Ma quit his

comfort zone in 1995 Jack Ma stopped working as a teacher. In the same year Jack Ma

got the opportunity of a highway construction project in Seattle, United States. It was in

uncle Sam's land that Jack Ma first became acquainted with the Internet

. Jack Ma, who

was full of curiosity, finally learned the internet wisely, he began to try his first search on

search engines.

Jack Ma and his friend started to open a website about his country of birth and

tried to take advantage of advanced technology that at that time electronic devices in

China were very difficult for ordinary people to find. Not only that, Jack Ma continued

to develop the Website platform that he made more and more known and many investors

were interested in the website that Jack Ma made so that not a few wanted to invest in

Jack Ma, but by being forced to dismiss the website platform, until there Jack Ma had not

given up because Jack Ma thought that at that time he and his friends were still young,

Gisa Naraya. 2017, “Jack Ma: Manusia Triliun Yuan”, Genesis learning (eBook) p.13

Ibid

, p.16

and they won't want to give up, they'll make it again. And at that time Jack Ma was forced

to return from the United States to China.

When he returned to his home country, Jack Ma again made plans to create a new

website platform with 17 friends he founded Alibaba. He said that he still didn't give up

and finally realized his goal appropriately. Alibaba itself is an E-Commerce platform that

provides services in the field of buying and selling goods with an international reach

which means that all people from all over the world can access the platform.

When establishing and developing Alibaba, there are not a few businesses made

by Jack Ma, he as the Founder and owner certainly has a leadership spirit that is the main

factor in managing the Alibaba group company. And when it was founded, it was

impossible for the company to immediately become big, developing the E-commerce

platform, there was leadership that could coordinate and supervise the development of

the company. Jack Ma as Chairman certainly has that responsibility and authority.

In this era of globalization with the rapid development of science and technology,

a leader who is really qualified in handling various problems is needed and is able to

encourage the work of his employees or subordinates

. Because the purpose of the

company or organization that is carried out cannot be achieved only with the leader or his

subordinates, but must have a strong collaboration between the leader and his

subordinates. And the organization or company will not stand well if one of the superiors

or subordinates does not perform his roles and responsibilities well.

The failures that came to him were barrage from childhood to adulthood after

being rejected by 30 companies, and the competition in the business world that was very

Hj. Tati Nurhayati. 2012, “Hubungan Kepemimpinan Transformasional dan Motivasi Kerja”, Jurnal

Edueksos Vol I.

steep, making him almost feel hopeless. In 2014 Jack Ma officially got the title of the

richest man in China with a net worth of Rp 283 trillion and in the same year Alibaba

became the fourth largest company in the world. His success in reaching the point of

success was the result of his high sense of passion and his strong confidence to prove that

a weak little boy in mathematics subjects could become one of the influential businessmen

in the world. "Never give up, Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after

tomorrow will be sunshine".

Jack Ma has also revealed that people have only seen 1 mistake compared to the

many good deeds that have been done, it means that Jack Ma is a leader who has a flexible

but firm leadership style, making Jack Ma an example for his subordinates in the

company. Even when he became a teacher, Jack Ma was late when class had started and

then he told his students that he didn't like someone who was undisciplined, because if it

was late it would be tantamount to killing someone else's time who at that time Jack Ma

was talking about himself.

3.3

Jack Ma's Leadership Style

The many of failures that Jack Ma received made him rise up and continue to be

a figure who dared to try something new and was not afraid of failure, because failure

was commonly accepted by him Jack Ma proved that someone who used to often

experience failures can become a successful person in the future. This trait is very

mandatory for a leader, if he is afraid to take risks and does not dare to try then his

company or organization that has been established cannot develop and only stays in the

same way. Jack Ma and his senior team also met at Alibaba's annual strategy review

sessions to discuss and set Alibaba's long-term strategy as well as consider

complementary organizational changes through a bottoms-up process with a third board

step, and they performed mid-term strategic reviews in the spring.

In China at that time the internet and computers were something that was not

accessible to everyone, When Jack Ma returned from the United States, he brought home

his knowledge of the Internet and with his fantastic idea he created a platform containing

about the bamboo curtain country. In this way, Jack Ma became a pioneer from China to

be able to access the internet with international reach.

Never giving up, persevering, learning from failures, not afraid to try new things,

creative, enterprising and persistent are some of the traits that must be possessed by a

leader, both a leader in a company and an organization. Some of these traits are certainly

owned by the Father of Alibaba, Jack Ma, who by having these traits he can build the

Alibaba Group. Charismatic leaders transform the nature of work (in this case work meant

to achieve the organization’s vision) by making it appear more heroic, morally correct

and meaningful.

3.4

Alibaba Group

The choice of the name Alibaba, which smells of the Middle East , has a meaning.

This name was handpicked by its founder, Jack Ma. Alibaba's name appeared when he

visited a café in San Francisco, United States. The young Jack Ma thought that the name

Alibaba, which was taken from the character Ali Baba in the legend story 1001 Nights,

was a very popular story. Many of the people he met in Uncle Sam's Country knew ali

Baba's story. It is said that Ali Baba is a generous person. Despite living in poverty, he

Julie Wulf. (2010). Alibaba Group. Harvard Business School Case, 710, 436.

J. A.Conger, & R. N. Kanungo (1998). Charismatic leadership in organizations. Sage Publications. p. 17

shares it with his fellows in need. That philosophy was then brought by Jack Ma when he

initiated an online store for small and medium-sized businesses.

Alibaba has attempted to establish relational legitimacy through systemizing

interactions between sellers and buyers (the primary stakeholders for relational

legitimacy) as well as among purchasers in a more transparent and dependable manner,

hence providing accurate and effective information. Alibaba has combined technology

and corporate social responsibility by establishing supplier networks, particularly for the

low-income class or in rural areas.

3.4.1

Alibaba's Footprint

Birth stage (1999 – 2002) Alibaba Ecosystem started its exploration in 1999 as a

B2B e-marketplace, when SMEs were lack of trading opportunities. At this stage, the

ecosystem had a very simple structure, including Alibaba.com as the core, users as the

key participants, and some other essential supportive species

. In August 2005, Yahoo

injected USD 1 billion into Alibaba, making the company the largest shareholder with a

40 percent stake. As part of the deal, Alibaba took control of Yahoo's business in China.

In 2007 Alibaba conducted an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong. The public

listing managed to raise 13.1 billion Hong Kong dollars (gross). On its opening day,

Alibaba's stock soared from an offering price of 13.50 Hong Kong dollars to 39.50 Hong

Kong dollars.

In 2011 the emergence of the alipay controversy, Alibaba sold Alipay to a

group controlled by Jack Ma. The reason for this is because of the new rules issued by

Jooyoung kwak, Yue Zhang, Jiang Yu. (2019). Legitimacy building and e-commerce platform

development in China: The experience of Alibaba. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 139,

115-124.

.Huang Lihua, Hu Ganglan, and Lu Xianghua. "E-business ecosystem and its evolutionary path: The Case

of the Alibaba Group in China." Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems 1(4),3.

China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, which imposes regulations for third-

party online payments requiring them to obtain certain licenses.

But Yahoo, Alibaba's largest shareholder at the time, said the sale of Alipay

happened without their knowledge. Yahoo's statement was later refuted by Alibaba.

Yahoo, SoftBank, and Alibaba finally reached an agreement in the same year, that is,

Alibaba will be paid at least 2 billion Hong Kong dollars, but not more than USD 6 billion

on the condition that Alipay must be a listed company. In addition, Alipay is also required

to pay a license fee and continue to serve Taobao. Alibaba bought back half of the 40

percent stake held by Yahoo for USD7.6 billion. Yahoo received about USD6.3 billion

in cash, and USD800 million in preference shares in Alibaba in 2012. This is a huge return

for Yahoo after an initial investment of USD1 billion in 2005. September 2014 Alibaba

decided to become a public company on the New York stock exchange and became the

largest IPO in history. The e-commerce giant raised around USD25 billion from the

action. This move led Alibaba to become one of the largest technology companies in Asia,

and in the same year in October After the controversial Alipay, Ant Financial was created

not only to accommodate the payment system, but other financial services. The creation

of this affiliated company indicates Alibaba to create financial technology or fintech. Sure

enough, Ant Financial is now the largest fintech company in China with assets of about

USD150 billion. Alibaba shares up more than 150 percent from the offering price of

USD68. In August 2015 Alibaba invested 28.3 billion yuan, or about USD4.56 billion

into Suning Group, one of China's largest trading companies targeting rural and sub urban

markets. They have more than 1,600 stores spread across more than 700 cities in China.

This is Alibaba's effort in combining online with offline businesses. The goal is to unify

payments, e-commerce, food delivery, and other parts of its business into one large

ecosystem.

The company founded by Jack Ma is not only Alibaba, including Taobao. Taobao

is a marketplace platform that provides the largest online buying and selling services in

China, Taobao was founded in 2003 to offer goods sold at retail. Tmall.com was

introduced in 2008 to complement Taobao's business of offering a global brand to an

increasingly affluent consumer base in China. Juhuasuan was launched by Taobao in

2010 and became a separate business in 2011, Juansuan offers "Quick Sale Sales". Then

there is eTao which is a shopping comparison site, online shoppers can use this site to

compare prices sold from different sellers.

4. Closing

4.1 Conclusion

Jack Ma is a leader of alibaba group who has a very good leadership style because

he has the ability of a leader to never give up in all the failures experienced so that he can

achieve success as he is today. Not only his ability to lead, learning from many

experiences and not being afraid to try to create something new illustrates that he is a

creative and innovative person, making him a very influential entrepreneur in the world.

When we hear the word Alibaba, of course, we immediately think of Jack Ma. He can

also create his own job opportunities when he feels lacking by his job income at the time

proving that Jack Ma is able to get out of his comfort zone. Not only that, Jack is very

suitable to be a motivator for novice business people who want to start their careers

because his words are very motivating for all of us.

Jack Ma's ingenious and future-oriented way of thinking makes the origin of

Alibaba group different from other E-Commerce platforms. One of Jack Ma's most

famous mottos, "Never Give up", Reflects the attitude with which Jack Ma has faced

rejection throughout his life. Getting rich overnight is a parable that is suitable to be

associated with Jack Ma

Then with the leadership of Jack Ma who can bring the name of Alibaba group

into Forbes Magazine with various awards and nominations that can be a benchmark for

all of us that a good leader can bring his subordinates to achieve common goals.

Failure is the beginning of success, even when it is successful, there is no doubt

that we will definitely get failure, therefore the first step we take is to never give up and

continue to try, because if you have given up then that is where the real failure is. In the

course of Jack Ma's life, he never gave up and always made failure a valuable experience,

although body size is a barrier when he wants to apply for a job, but with these

shortcomings Jack Ma can prove that people with physical deficiencies can become

influential people in the world.

4.2 Suggestion

Jack Ma's leadership style can be a role model for beginners who want to start

their careers in the business world. Jack Ma's success began with failures that came since

he was a child, because getting a lot of failures is what makes Jack Ma become

accustomed to failure. His unyielding nature and high curiosity honed his creativity and

created the latest innovations in the field of online business. We should be able to learn

from how Jack Ma rose from failure to be able to build a large company, not only that,

Jack Ma's leadership style is exemplary to develop a large company.

Suk Lee, Bob Song. 2016, “Never Give Up: Jack Ma In His Own Words” Royal Collins Publishing Group

(eBook) p.16

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Publishing.

Lihua, H., Hu, G., & Lu, X. (2009). E-business ecosystem and its evolutionary path:

The Case of the Alibaba Group in China. Pacific Asia Journal of the Association

for Information Systems, 1(4), 3.

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DAN MORAL TINGGI.

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Edueksos: Jurnal Pendidikan Sosial & Ekonomi, 1(2).

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Savitri, A. 45 Cara Kaya Ala Jack Ma. Penerbit Nauli Media.

Siswanto, E. (2019). Jack Ma, Sang Miliuner Dunia. LAKSANA.

Susilo, F. Sukses dan Kaya Raya Miliarder Dunia. LAKSANA.

Tirtaningrum, D. JACK MA DALAM MEMBANGUN ALIBABA GROUP.

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