Selected as one of the Best Business Books of 2015 by the Wall Street Journal
'Fascinating . . . stories don't get much better than Alibaba's' Financial Times
A riveting insider account of the rise, culture and influence of Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant that is changing the face of global business.
In September 2014, a Chinese company that most Westerners had never heard of held the largest IPO in history - bigger than Google, Facebook and Twitter combined. Alibaba, now the world's largest e-commerce company, mostly escaped Western notice for over ten years, while building a customer base larger than Amazon's, and handling the bulk of e-commerce transactions in China. How did it happen? And what was it like to be along for such a revolutionary ride?
In Alibaba's World, author Porter Erisman, one of Alibaba's first Western employees, shares inside stories and analyses Alibaba's role as a harbinger of the new global business landscape - with its focus on the East rather than the West, emerging markets over developed ones, and the nimble entrepreneur over the industry titan. As we face this near future, the story of Alibaba - and its inevitable descendants - is both essential and instructive.
'An absolute delight to read. Porter Erisman has crafted an insider's loving portrayal of the world's largest e-commerce site . . . If you like a well-written business yarn, read Alibaba's World. It's how the East was won' New York Journal of Books