ABSTRACT
Relying on a careful reading of the company’s filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as drawing upon data and reports from trade journals and media accounts, Chapter 2 systematically investigates the fundamental but also complicated economic profile of Alibaba. In particular, it focuses on the following three dimensions: (1) How big is Alibaba – mapping out the company’s financial and market position in global digital economy; (2) What is Alibaba – focusing on its surprisingly opaque corporate structure and a variety of different properties; (3) Where has Alibaba expanded – tracing the company’s major development strategies over the past two decades.
