Ali Globalization Moves Forward: Establishing Australia's New Zealand Headquarters

Sina Technology News On the evening of February 4th, Alibaba Group held its inauguration ceremony at the headquarters in New Zealand, Australia. The female executive Zhou Wei will be the head of the Australia-New Zealand headquarters.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Ma Yun said that he would bring the concept of “making the world a business that is not difficult to do” to Australia. He said: “Whether it is a large enterprise that has established a business network in China, or an exporter who runs a family business. Alibaba came here to help them, so that there is no hard business in the world."

Opening the Australia-New Zealand headquarters is also a reflection of Alibaba's strategy to promote globalization. Australia has a special significance for Ma Yun. Ma Yun said: If Alibaba wants to open a global development strategy in a country or region, then it should be Australia and New Zealand. More than 30 years ago, Australian Ken Morley and young Ma Yun had a lifelong friendship and invited Ma to travel abroad for the first time. For Ma Yun, Ken is the one who opened the window of the world for him.

Ma Yun regards the opening of the Australia-New Zealand headquarters as an insistence on the concept of globalization. In his speech, he always called for and globalized. He said: "We also believe that the world needs globalization and trade. It is not just about trade or importers and exporters, but about trust and cultural exchange. When trade stops, the world It’s paused, we should empower the world through trade and commerce. We should connect the world with business and trust.”

Ma Yun also visited Australian Prime Minister Turnbull in Sydney yesterday. The two have a common philosophy of further promoting cross-border trade, especially for SMEs. More ANZS SMEs will enter the Chinese market through the Alibaba platform, and Alibaba will establish a complete operational infrastructure in Australia to help local companies expand their global business. At present, Alibaba has more than 1,300 Australian brands and 400 New Zealand brands on the platform; in 2016, Australia 11 became the fourth-highest source of products.

In addition, Alibaba Cloud entered the service and opened a data center at the end of 2016; more than 1,000 physical stores in Australia and New Zealand have supported Alipay. Australia Post has partnered with the rookie network to provide joint services for cross-border parcel delivery (and packaging) from Australia to China. Alibaba also signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia Post to jointly develop the first Australian e-commerce platform based on the Lazada Southeast Asia e-commerce network. (Zhang Jun)

The following is the full text of Ma Yun’s speech:

Governor, senator, ambassadors, distinguished guests, partners and ladies and gentlemen:

Today is a meaningful day. I arrived in Sydney two nights ago. I spent a wonderful morning in Sydney yesterday, then I went to Newcastle in the afternoon and I went to Melbourne late at night. I remember one night 9 years ago, I also came to Melbourne to visit a very special friend. He is a famous writer and wrote many books about martial arts novels. I am an avid fan of martial arts novels. Why do I like them? Because I like the imagination of Kung Fu masters and the foresight I have, I went to Melbourne in a late night 9 years ago and stayed for 2 hours before leaving. I didn't know that Melbourne was so beautiful. I walked around the city this morning and found her so beautiful.

I am really honored that Alibaba can have this opportunity to fly from New Zealand and Australia to this opening ceremony.

The Chinese attach great importance to the Spring Festival, I am very happy that I can spend the Spring Festival here, we have had a good time here. This country has changed me. This is my favorite country after China.

I first came to Australia in 1985 and stayed here for 29 days. It was this country that inspired me and it changed me. Before I came to Australia, I felt that China was the richest and happiest country in the world. My education told me that China should help the poor people in the world to change their lives. But after 29 days, I feel that China should reform and need to change.

I came here two days ago. I met with the Prime Minister and I also said that I feel that this trip to Australia is a grateful journey. I and Alibaba sincerely thank Australia for their support and understanding.

The time and friendship with the Morley family over the past 35 years reminded me over and over again that I should do something for Australia and New Zealand. If Alibaba wants to open up a global development strategy in a country or region, then it should be Australia and New Zealand. We should come here earlier. Thanks to Zhou Wei and her team, thank the government and people here for giving us the opportunity to open this office.

I want to say that Alibaba is a very young company. This year is our 18th anniversary. We have grown from 18 partners to the present.

We believe that the Internet can help people and empower small businesses around the world. At that time, apart from us, no one believed that the Internet and e-commerce could succeed in China. After 18 years, we became the world's largest e-commerce company. Last year, we (the platform) sold goods worth 560 billion US dollars, which is most worthy of our pride. The reason is that we have created 30 million jobs in China.

When I started my business in my apartment, I told my partner that if Ma Yun can succeed, then 80% of China's people can succeed because we don't have the money to do business, and it doesn't matter or background. We want to prove that we can change by working hard, working together, using technology and looking at the world.

Now our vision is more ambitious. When we grow up, it comes with more responsibilities. We need to help others. Our success is because we help others and empower SMEs if we want to continue to succeed. We need to empower more people.

Our vision is to create 100 million jobs in the world over the next 20 years, serve 2 billion customers worldwide, and help 10 million SMEs benefit from our platform. .

We believe that globalization is the future direction of development. I know that many people today don't like globalization, but we are a solid advocate of globalization and trade. We believe that globalization has been controlled by 60,000 large companies in the past 20 years, but if we can support 6 million businesses worldwide to do cross-border trade? So we believe that globalization is just the beginning.

This is a pain in the process of growth, and we should make globalization more inclusive. For 18 years, we have focused on small businesses, young people and women – we believe they are the future. Small businesses are the center of innovation and provide the largest amount of employment. It is impossible for large companies to double their employees, and it is possible to add one or two jobs to each small business. Young people should have a future.

Empower everyone through technology. The world has gone from IT to DT - data technology - not Donald Trump. We believe that women are the most innovative source of Alibaba. Women account for 48% of the total number of Alibaba employees. 34% of our management is female. We have female CFOs, COOs, CPOs, and female national ambassadors, such as Zhou Wei.

It is women who make this world different – ​​they care more about the world and people than men, men care more about work, women care more about parents, family and children, and they make work different and more human.

Therefore, we also believe that the world needs globalization and trade, not only about trade or importers and exporters, but about trust and cultural exchanges. When trade ceases, the world stops, and we should empower the world through trade and commerce. We should connect the world with business and trust. Alibaba is doing more than just business, but about trust, friendship, and mutual understanding. You can never force others to do business with you. Trade can only be done on the basis of building trust.

The opportunity is huge – I heard that the total population of Melbourne 180 years ago was 180 people. People come here to pan for gold, there are many gold mines - what are the gold mines in Australia and New Zealand for the next 20 years? The next gold mine is clean water, soil and air. This is owned by Australia and New Zealand. This is the most unique property in Australia and New Zealand. This is really what I appreciate.

Regarding environmental protection, look at the situation in China: Due to the lack of experience and serious environmental pollution, we have to import a lot of things. We should learn from Australia and New Zealand. One of my friends, my student 25 years ago, immigrated to Brisbane life ten years ago. He sent a text message to me saying that we should help more Australian small businesses to sell their products to China. Australia's most important asset is their simple life, respect for culture and the environment. These are things that we should bring from Australia and New Zealand to China, and trust and respect make them such a lovely country. The Chinese have many concerns about China's economy. Whether China's economy will be good or not, I am an optimist.

Today the world is very interesting and we are living in an interesting phase. Trump is a very unique president. The world needs a new leader. This new leader is not about one person, or one country. It is about working together to solve problems.

I am a believer in technology. When new technologies are born, we will have problems. We will have good things and bad things.

The first technological revolution led to the First World War, and the second technological revolution led to the Second World War. Now, we are in the third technological revolution, an information revolution. The first technological revolution gave people strength, and we know that machines are stronger than people. The second technological revolution solved the problem of distance. We know that machines go faster and farther than people. The current technological revolution will liberate people's brains, whether you like it or not, we know that machines will be smarter than humans. Although machines are smarter, people are always smarter than machines, and machines should be more controllable than humans. If there is a Third World War, it should be a struggle between mankind and poverty and environmental pollution and disease. If everyone can work together, we can do a lot of things. If our goals are different, the trouble will be big.

China is the second largest economy in the world, and our economy is shifting from exports to imports. I also believe that China is an importing country. We have a 300 million middle class. In 10 to 15 years, if GDP grows by 4 to 5%, we will have a middle class of nearly 500 million. We need high quality products and services. I don’t think China has today. The ability is all self-produced. China will work hard with other countries. At the same time, China will shift from production infrastructure to domestic demand – this is a huge change! The spending power of our 300 million middle class is still at a low level, we need to learn how to spend money and know how to spend. A few weeks ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a wonderful speech to the world on behalf of the world's second largest economy in Davos. China will take up its responsibility to promote globalization to help the world. China will import $8 trillion worth of products and services, and there will be 700 million Chinese tourists around the world in the next five years. I am very confident about China. There may be pain points in the short term, but in the long run, China will assume its leadership responsibility in supporting global economic growth.

I am convinced that China is making excellent achievements in anti-corruption. There may be bitterness today, but after 5 to 10 years, we will get better. I think China will be more transparent and open. This is the confidence we have. A large market like Australia and New Zealand can be a good business partner for China. Chinese consumers are striving for health and happiness – this is what Australia and New Zealand are good at, you have an exceptionally beautiful natural beauty and a beautiful and pure heart – this is what China needs to learn.

Last year, we sold $17 billion worth of products, and we have made many Australian suppliers successful. Chemist Warehouse, Australia's first chain pharmacy, generated sales of 10 million yuan in 13 minutes, and their sales reached 100 million yuan throughout the day. This is really amazing. Swisse sold 350,000 pieces of soap a day. This is a great number. The Chinese love Australian and New Zealand products. We will do more for Australia and New Zealand.

I just talked with Governor Daniel Andrews how we can work more closely together, not just selling products, but how to work with these universities, chambers of commerce, and business associations in Melbourne to better develop young people. Let small businesses sell better. I would like to say that today there are more than 1,300 Australian brands and 400 New Zealand brands on Alibaba's platform, 80% of which are the first time to enter the Chinese market through this platform. Big companies may not need us, but small companies need us and we need them.

In the next 20 years, it will be an excellent opportunity for SMEs to go global. The world is very interesting. I like the northern and southern hemispheres, so we have two springs and two winters. For all SMEs, this means that you have two chances to sell products to the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere. For example, you are a swimsuit. , skiing manufacturers, various factories will not stop due to seasonal factors. With our platform, you can go to the world, buy the world, sell the world. We will ensure that our platform will allow the markets in the northern and southern hemispheres to work together seamlessly.

Whether or not people support globalization, Alibaba will firmly work for the globalization process. Today we have 45,000 employees who are willing to work hard for everyone, more inclusive and at all costs. In order to create a more interesting world and to stop people from worrying about the world, I hope that we can work together more closely. So don't worry, believe in young people, believe in the future. Simple days are always in the past. Over the past 18 years, I have had more troubles and tangles than many people and made more mistakes. Many people started writing about us, but I am not ready yet. If I want to write this book, it should be about 1001 mistakes we made, not about our achievements, but how many mistakes and traumas we have overcome.

This is what I want to share with you - today is cruel, tomorrow is more cruel, the day after tomorrow is very good, but many people die tomorrow night, there is no way to see the beautiful sunshine of the day after tomorrow, so don't try too hard.

I also want to say that I had the opportunity to meet with US President Trump last month. We discussed creating jobs for the United States and a more inclusive globalization, and we believe that the world needs new forms of globalization.

We should never give up globalization, but give new meaning to globalization. We should not only think of exports and add value. Globalization creates not a problem but a share of prosperity and culture. We need children and this generation to share culture and respect culture – we should believe that tolerance is the future, and this is something that will continue to be promoted.

Please pay attention to the next 30 years, each technical revolution has spent 50 years. The first 20 years of technology and technology companies, the next 30 years is about the use of technology. Electricity is not invented in the United States, cars are not, but Americans know how to use them more. In the next 30 years, we must use technology and embrace change. This is the best opportunity for mankind. Pay special attention to companies with fewer than 30 employees. These small businesses have a good elasticity to survive in this century, they will use technology and young people to continue to grow. Please pay special attention to young people under the age of 30, they are our future. Respect the elderly but give young people more opportunities. But when we give them opportunities, we also give ourselves opportunities. This is what Alibaba believes, and we are honored to work hard with everyone to do this.

I am also very happy to witness the opening of the new office in Australia. Australia ranked fourth in our double 11 ranking last year and fifth in the previous year. We will continue to act quickly. For Alibaba, last year our total GMV ranked 21st in the global economy, and we hope to be the fifth largest economy in the world in 20 years. We don't have an economy. We will work hand in hand with young people and small businesses, an economy built by small businesses and young people using technology. We need to create an economy that empowers every young person, child and woman. We must empower ourselves through technology. If you have a car, you can participate in Uber, you have a mobile phone, you can sell the world, buy the world. We want to give equal opportunities to everyone. Thank you for listening.