Ma’s million jobs pledge more PR than promise
Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Donald Trump made headlines with the Chinese entrepreneur’s attention-grabbing pledge to create one million US jobs, but analysts say the move is more about good PR than substance. The splashy promise at Trump Tower was a strategic decision by Ma to win goodwill from the next US president and hedge against political risks to Alibaba’s vast online shopping business over counterfeits, independent e-commerce analyst Li Chengdong said.
“We don’t have to take the one million job promise too seriously,” Li said.
In the short-term, economists are sceptical. Such a figure would represent almost one per cent of all jobs in the United States, making the firm one of the country’s largest private employers, said Christopher Balding, professor at Peking University’s HSBC Business School.
China’s largest online shopping portal has been on the defensive since the office of the US Trade Representative last month put its massive electronic sales platform Taobao on its annual blacklist, saying it was not doing enough to curb sales of fake and pirated goods.
Although inclusion on the blacklist carries no penalties in itself, it dealt a blow to Alibaba’s efforts to improve its image and boost international sales. “This (pledge) is more made to relieve its PR pressure, so Alibaba won’t become a target of attack after Trump takes office,” Li added. “As Alibaba’s counterfeits problem is indeed quite serious, it is an easy target.”
‘GOOD RELATIONSHIPS’: This month Alibaba filed a lawsuit in China against two vendors for allegedly selling fake Swarovski watches on Taobao, portraying the move as the first time an e-commerce site had taken a counterfeiter to court in the world’s second-largest economy.
“Jack Ma is a smart guy and if there is anything being a major businessman in China teaches you it is the importance of having good relationships with the leaders,” Balding added.
Alibaba and Taobao have long been accused of providing a platform for the sale of knockoff brand-name goods.
Items for sale include a variety of Trump-related products, including “Make America Great Again” hats that sell for $25 on Trump’s website — available for 3.5 yuan (50 cents). Analysts say Alibaba wants to enhance its imports of US merchandise for Chinese consumers.
“It is not necessarily to create more jobs in the US, it is simply providing one more sales channel for them,” Nell Lu, analyst with Shanghai’s Business Connect China consulting firm, said. Scandals over food safety and milk powder have eroded Chinese shoppers’ confidence in domestic goods, fuelling lively informal grey markets in food, vitamins, and medicines from all over the world.