Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Struggling towards virtuous coevolution: institutional and strategic works of Alibaba in building the Taobao e-commerce ecosystem

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Asian Business & Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The business ecosystem literature has accumulated a rich array of theoretical and empirical insights, which presume a keystone role of the focal company in facilitating virtuous coevolution that synchronises fundamental logics across multi-level fields to secure its competitive advantage. However, scant attention has been paid to the mechanisms underlying keystone strategies. This paper examines the case of Alibaba in building its Taobao ecosystem, drawing on organisational institutionalism theories, to develop a theoretical model that directs attention towards fundamental patterns and configurations of institutionalisation-influencing strategies and utilisation of the constructed institutional foundation to achieve a competitive advantage.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Source: Annual reports, prospectuses and other public disclosures of Alibaba

Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. We use brackets to indicate the citation of regulatory documents in Table 1.

References

  • Alibaba. 2010. Internal Talks by Yun Ma. Beijing: Hongqi Publishers. (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Alibaba. 2013. Internal Talks by Yun Ma, 2. Beijing: Hongqi Publishers. (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstyne, Van, W. Marshall, Geoffrey G. Parker, and Sangeet Paul Choudary. 2016. Pipelines, Platforms, and the New Rules of Strategy. Harvard Business Review 94 (4): 54–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benlian, Alexander, Daniel Hilkert, and Thomas Hess. 2015. How Open is This Platform? The Meaning and Measurement of Platform Openness from the Complementors’ Perspective. Journal of Information Technology 30 (3): 209–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjerregaard, Toke, and Charlotte Jonasson. 2014. Managing Unstable Institutional Contradictions: The Work of Becoming. Organization Studies 35 (10): 1507–1536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boudreau, Kevin. 2010. Open Platform Strategies and Innovation: Granting Access vs. Devolving Control. Management Science 56 (10): 1849–1872.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carney, Michael, Eric Gedajlovic, and Xiaohua Yang. 2009. Varieties of Asian Capitalism: Toward an Institutional Theory of Asian Enterprise. Asia Pacific Journal of Management 26 (3): 361–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, Duncan. 2016. Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crossan, Mary M., Henry W. Lane, and Roderick E. White. 1999. An Organizational Learning Framework: From Intuition to Institution. Academy of Management Review 24 (3): 522–537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, Paul J., and Walter W. Powell. 1983. The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. American Sociological Review 48 (2): 147–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Einhorn, Bruce, and Frederik Balfour. 2012. Jack Ma is the Loneliest Billionaire in China. BusinessWeek, June 18–24, http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-14/jack-ma-is-the-loneliest-billionaire-in-china (accessed August 12, 2017).

  • Friedland, Roger, and Robert R. Alford. 1991. Bringing Society Back in Symbols, Practices and Institutional Contradictions. In The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, ed. Walter W. Powell, and Paul J. DiMaggio, 232–263. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Royston, Christine Oliver, Kerstin Sahlin, and Roy Suddaby. 2008. Introduction. In The Sage Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism, ed. Royston Greenwood, Christine Oliver, Roy Suddaby, and Kerstin Sahlin, 1–46. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, Peter A., and Rosemary C.R. Taylor. 1996. Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms. Political Studies 44 (5): 936–957.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, Andrew J. 1999. Institutional Evolution and Change: Environmentalism and the U.S. Chemical Industry. Academy of Management Journal 42 (4): 351–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, Yu. 2006. Users Claimed that Taobao Connives at Parallel Goods, Taobao Said that They Provides Only Transaction Platform, http://net.chinabyte.com/297/2644797.shtml (accessed July 19, 2017). (in Chinese).

  • Iansiti, Macro, and Roy Levien. 2004a. Strategy as Ecology. Harvard Business Review 82 (3): 68–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iansiti, Macro, and Roy Levien. 2004b. The Keystone Advantage: What the New Dynamics of Business Ecosystems Mean for Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • IDC (International Data Corporation), and Alibaba Group Research Centre. 2012. Accelerating Progress of Information Society: E-Commerce and the Socioeconomic Influence of Alibaba Business Ecology, https://wenku.baidu.com/view/5901efde6f1aff00bed51e1d.html (accessed August 1, 2016). (in Chinese).

  • iResearch. 2016. China’s Online Shopping GMV Kept Rising in 2015, http://www.iresearchchina.com/content/details7_22434.html (accessed January 8, 2017).

  • Jansson, Hans, and Sten Söderman. 2013. How Large Chinese Companies Establish International Competitiveness in Other BRICS: The Case of Brazil. Asian Business & Management 12 (5): 539–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kondra, Alex Z., and C.R. Hinings. 1998. Organizational Diversity and Change in Institutional Theory. Organization Studies 19 (5): 743–767.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, Thomas B. 1999. Institutional Strategy. Journal of Management 25 (2): 161–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, Thomas B., and Roy Suddaby. 2006. Institutions and Institutional Work. In The SAGE Handbook of Organization Studies, ed. Stewart R. Clegg, Cynthia Hardy, Thomas B. Lawrence, and Walter R. Nord, 215–254. London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Stan Xiao, and Royston Greenwood. 2004. The Effect of Within-Industry Diversification on Firm Performance: Synergy Creation, Multi-Market Contact and Market Structuration. Strategic Management Journal 25 (12): 1131–1153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Qiangdong. 2016. Qiangdong Liu Stated: My Business Model. Beijing: CITIC Press. (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Gordon, and Ke Rong. 2015. The Nature of the Co-Evolutionary Process: Complex Product Development in the Mobile Computing Industry’s Business Ecosystem. Group & Organization Management 40 (6): 809–842.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maguire, Steve, and Cynthia Hardy. 2009. Discourse and Deinstitutionalization: The Decline of DDT. Academy of Management Journal 52 (1): 148–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manikas, Konstantinos, and Klaus Marius Hansen. 2013. Software Ecosystems—A Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Systems and Software 86 (5): 1294–1306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Micelotta, Evelyn, Michael Lounsbury, and Royston Greenwood. 2017. Pathways of Institutional Change: An Integrative Review and Research Agenda. Journal of Management 43 (6): 1885–1910.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce of China). 2007a. Opinions of the Ministry of Commerce on Promoting the Development of Electronic Commerce, http://www.gov.cn/ztzl/2007-12/17/content_836630.htm (accessed November 1, 2016). (in Chinese).

  • MOFCOM. 2007b. Guidance on Online Transactions (interim), http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2007-03/29/content_565020.htm (accessed November 1, 2016). (in Chinese).

  • MOFCOM. 2009a. Specifications for Online Transaction Services, http://www.hebi.gov.cn/swj/741665/741684/983305/index.html (accessed November 1, 2016). (in Chinese).

  • MOFCOM. 2009b. Specifications for E-Commerce Model, http://www.hebi.gov.cn/swj/741665/741684/983301/index.html (accessed November 1, 2016). (in Chinese).

  • MOFCOM. 2011a. Opinion of the Ministry of Commerce on the Development of E-Commerce during the Period of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/b/d/201110/20111007788024.html (accessed December 15, 2016). (in Chinese).

  • MOFCOM. 2011b. Service Specifications for Third-Party E-Commerce Transaction Platforms, http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/b/c/201104/20110407516456.html (accessed December 15, 2016). (in Chinese).

  • Moore, James F. 1993. Predators and Prey: A New Ecology of Competition. Harvard Business Review 71: 75–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, James F. 1996. The Death of Competition: Leadership & Strategy in the Age of Business Ecosystems. New York: HarperBusiness.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ng, Jhony Choon, Metis Meng Yeong, Die Huang, and Yiping Liu. 2016. The ‘Feminine’ Entrepreneurial Personality Trait: The Competitive Advantage of Female College-Student Entrepreneurs in Chinese Wei-Shang Businesses? Asian Business & Management 15 (5): 343–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • North, Douglass C. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ofili, Onyeka Uche. 2016. Internationalization: Choosing the Right Entry Mode: Lessons From Ebay’s Strategy in China. European Scientific Journal 12 (1): 202–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, Christine. 1991. Strategic Responses to Institutional Processes. Academy of Management Review 16 (1): 145–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pache, Anne-Claire, and Filipe Santos. 2013. Inside the Hybrid Organization: Selective Coupling as a Response to Competing Institutional Logics. Academy of Management Journal 56 (4): 972–1001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peltoniemi, Mirva. 2006. Preliminary Theoretical Framework for the Study of Business Ecosystems. Emergence: Complexity & Organization 8 (1): 10–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peng, Mike W. 2002. Towards an Institution-Based View of Business Strategy. Asia Pacific Journal of Management 19 (2–3): 251–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng, Yao. 2016. Tencent Truth Mosaic. Beijing: Publishing House of Electronics Industry. (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Peng, Mike W., Seung-Hyun Lee, and Denis Y.L. Wang. 2005. What Determines the Scope of the Firm Over Time? A Focus on Institutional Relatedness. Academy of Management Review 30 (3): 622–633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reay, Trish, and C.R. Hinings. 2009. Managing the Rivalry of Competing Institutional Logics. Organization Studies 30 (6): 629–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W.Richard. 2001. Institutions and Organizations, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suchman, Mark C. 1995. Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches. Academy of Management Review 20 (3): 571–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suhomlinova, Olga. 2006. Towards a Model of Organizational Co-Evolution in Transition Economies. Journal of Management Studies 43 (7): 1537–1558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan, Barney, Shan L. Pan, Xianghua Lu, and Lihua Huang. 2015. The Role of IS Capabilities in the Development of Multi-Sided Platforms: The Digital Ecosystem Strategy of Alibaba.com. Journal of the Association for Information Systems 16 (4): 248–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, Llewellyn D. W., and Erkko Autio. 2014. The Fifth Facet: The Ecosystem as an Organizational Field. Paper presented at the DRUID Society Conference 2014, CBS, Copenhagen, June 16–18.

  • Thornton, Patricia H. 2002. The Rise of the Corporation in a Craft Industry: Conflict and Conformity in Institutional Logics. Academy of Management Journal 45 (1): 81–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, Patricia H., and William Ocasio. 1999. Institutional Logics and the Historical Contingency of Power in Organizations: Executive Succession in the Higher Education Publishing Industry, 1958–1990. American Journal of Sociology 105 (3): 801–843.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, Patricia H., and William Ocasio. 2008. Institutional Logics. In The Sage Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism, ed. Royston Greenwood, Christine Oliver, Roy Suddaby, and Kerstin Sahlin, 99–129. London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Helen H. 2010. How eBay Failed in China, http://www.forbes.com/sites/china/2010/09/12/how-ebay-failed-in-china/ (accessed November 30, 2017).

  • Wang, Jing, and Tiankuo Zhang. 2008. Utopia of Jack Ma: New Business Civilization after ‘Dharma Five Fingers’ Integration. In 21st Century Business Herald, http://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2008-11-22/02392596663.shtml (accessed April 5, 2017). (in Chinese).

  • Wareham, Jonathan, Paul B. Fox, and Josep Lluís Cano Giner. 2014. Technology Ecosystem Governance. Organization Science 25 (4): 1195–1215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weill, Peter, and Stephanie L. Woerner. 2015. Thriving in an Increasingly Digital Ecosystem. MIT Sloan Management Review 56 (4): 27–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Guang, and Rishuang Wang. 2013. The Institutionalization of an Electronic Marketplace in China, 1998–2010. Journal of Product Innovation Management 30 (1): 96–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Yang 2006. Tencent Paipai was Launched to the Public. http://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2006-03-18/1438870880.shtml. Accessed January 5, 2017. (in Chinese).

  • Yin, Robert K. 2013. Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuan, Yin. 2013. Alibaba: The Same Ecology, Millions of Companies. Green Companies, http://www.daonong.com/g/19/fengmian/2013/0125/35982.html (accessed November 25, 2017). (in Chinese).

  • Zhang, Qiang. 2014. Institutional Embeddedness Renewal or Overembeddedness: The Case of Business Groups in China. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration 6 (2): 148–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Jing, and Xiong-Jian Liang. 2011. Business Ecosystem Strategies of Mobile Network Operators in the 3G Era: The Case of China Mobile. Telecommunications Policy 35 (2): 156–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, Lynne G. 1977. The Role of Institutionalization in Cultural Persistence. American Sociological Review 42: 726–743.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Guest Editor Ke Rong, the two anonymous reviewers, Qianni Gu and Peter Bamberger for their helpful and supportive comments on earlier versions of this paper. This research was supported in part by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 71502101, 71502109).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, 333 Long-Teng Road, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Qiang Zhang

  2. Department of Humanities and Law, Shanghai Business School, 2271 West Zhongshan Road, Shanghai, 200235, China

    Yan Wang

Authors
  1. Qiang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yan Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yan Wang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, Q., Wang, Y. Struggling towards virtuous coevolution: institutional and strategic works of Alibaba in building the Taobao e-commerce ecosystem. Asian Bus Manage 17, 208–242 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41291-018-0037-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41291-018-0037-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation