Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) company, today announced that Mercer, a leading global provider of consulting, outsourced and investment services, has selected the Sterling Collaboration Network, an on demand business-to-business (B2B) network, to safely and securely exchange electronic communications specifically related to superannuation with the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department.
In existence for over 30 years, Sterling Collaboration Network provides connections to over 90 other public and private networks and manages as many as 4.5 million B2B documents per day with more than 99.9 percent reliability. It will enable Mercer to automate the flow of information, including retirement benefit information to and from Mercer and the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department.
Mercer works with clients to solve their most complex benefit and human capital issues, designing and helping manage health, retirement and other benefits. The company conducted a lengthy market evaluation and chose Sterling Commerce based on its strong market footprint, brand reputation, and proven technical expertise in being able to transmit high volumes of messages in a secure and reliable fashion.
“We reviewed several solutions but were impressed with the scalability and proven expertise of the Sterling Collaboration Network. This was confirmed when we signed on to the network as this was both a rapid and smooth transition which enabled us to continue offering a seamless service to our clients.
“Since going live with Sterling Collaboration Network, Mercer and its clients have reaped the benefits of a faster speed of messaging service and an overall leap in the quality of document visibility and transparency,” said Andrew Godfrey, Chief Operating Officer, Outsourcing, Mercer.
Sterling Collaboration Network simplifies trading partner relationships by eliminating all paper-based transactions and providing end-to-end visibility and control over the business processes shared with outside companies. It eliminates all paper-based transactions and removes the technical complexity in dealing with the technical requirements of the trading community. With this solution, companies are able to securely and reliably exchange business documents, making it simpler to automate their B2B processes to increase their competitiveness and productivity.
“Sterling Commerce has performed as a professional organisation with the capacity to deliver a smooth deployment within set timeframes and provide ongoing excellence in its quality of delivery,” said Godfrey.
Source: http://www.itwire.com/
Far Eastern Economic Review
THE REVIEW'S E-BUSINESS survey shows that small and medium-sized enterprises tend to invest much less in doing business on-line than their larger competitors. Maybe one reason they aren't spending so much is that they can rely on on-line B2B market places. True, it means they surrender some control, but they can cut costs to a minimum and expose their products to large numbers of buyers all over the world.
That's certainly the need addressed by Hong Kong-based Alibaba.com, which, by a narrow margin, was voted the most popular B2B Web site by readers of the REVIEW's e-mail newsletter.
Alibaba.com's founder, Jack Ma, has always stressed that his target customers are small businesses -- in his own words, "shrimps" and not "whales." On a typical day, the on-line community trading on the Alibaba.com Web site will contain around 50,000 buyers and 120,000 sellers from more than 200 countries.
But it seems that, in absolute terms, the companies that provide B2B exchange software and services are still at the shrimp stage of development.
More than 70% of the 4,846 people who responded to the REVIEW's e-business survey said they simply didn't have a favourite B2B site in their industry. Of the 20 prominent sites we suggested, most ended up with fewer votes than they have employees. Alibaba.com got the most votes -- a little over 4% of the total. Four other companies, two of them based in Asia and two in the United States (ariba.com, asia2b.com, commerceone.com and globalsources.com) got around 3% each.
The lack of dominant players isn't surprising, says James Wang, an Internet analyst with Merrill Lynch Taiwan. It's a sign of an immature market. "You're seeing that some companies like Ariba and Commerce One are gaining some traction over local sites. Within three to five years we'll start to see the winners," he says.
Support from only 3%-4% of a market may seem like a tenuous toehold, but business-to-business transactions over the Internet are potentially a very big pie. The total value of global commerce is predicted to exceed $50 trillion by 2005, with as much as 10% of that being conducted on-line, according to various analysts. Operators of B2B platforms don't necessarily need to expand their market share beyond a few percent, but with competing market places a mere mouse click away, they do need to work hard to hold on to the customers they have.
Companies coming into the market late with a "me too" approach are unlikely to succeed, says Wang. "There are a lot of local and regional players who are trying to reinvent the wheel." And B2B service providers who fail to look for customers across national or regional boundaries may be trying to build a niche where none exists: "The market's global," he says.
Alibaba.com is a good example of this. The company has its roots in China, home of founder Jack Ma, and more than half of the exchange's participants are based in China.
However, the rest come from all over the world, with a notable proportion from developing markets and poor countries that normally don't figure very prominently in e-business statistics. During the past few months, Alibaba has hosted an Albanian buyer of motorbikes, an Algerian company in search of computer-memory modules, as well as sellers of silk in Cambodia and cashew nuts in Burkina Faso.
source: http://news.alibaba.com/
World's leading B2B online marketplace collaborates with India's largest B2B media company to provide Indian SMEs with the best solution for domestic and global trade
MUMBAI, 29 April 2008 - Alibaba.com Limited (SEHK: 1688), the world's leading B2B
e-commerce company, and Infomedia India Limited, India's largest Yellow Pages and special interest publishing company, today announced a multi-year strategic partnership designed to benefit small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in India.
The Alibaba.com and Infomedia partnership will combine the power of traditional print publishing with online media and e-commerce, providing Indian SMEs with a one-stop solution for global and domestic trade. Together they will create a strong online community of Indian business people and provide them with a single cost-effective channel to promote their products and source from quality suppliers in India and around the world. It will also provide SMEs in India with the latest industry news and technical developments in multi-media formats.
Prakash Iyer, Managing Director, Infomedia, said, "As India's largest Yellow Pages company – and now as part of the Network 18 group – Infomedia is delighted to bring Alibaba.com's strength and global reach to Indian businesses. We have a long history of helping SMEs grow their business and this partnership will help Indian companies realize their fullest potential worldwide. The Infomedia-Alibaba.com partnership will bring value to Indian SMEs by giving them a larger, multi-media business platform encompassing domestic and global trade services."
David Wei, Chief Executive Officer, Alibaba.com, said,"With its huge growth potential, India is a very important and strategic market for Alibaba.com and is a top priority for our global expansion plans. While Alibaba.com is the expert in helping small businesses trade internationally, Infomedia brings us a strong understanding of the Indian SME and B2B market. With Infomedia we have a strong local partner who can provide on-the-ground support for our members, including sales, marketing and customer service. We believe this alliance will help us become the dominant online B2B marketplace in India by the end of 2008."
India has more than 8 million SMEs, which account for almost 40 per cent of India's industrial output and employ around 30 million people. It is estimated that 3 million SMEs are engaged in B2B trade and around 1 million are in the export business. Alibaba.com has more than 400,000 members in India, already making it one of the country's largest B2B online marketplaces by member count. Alibaba.com launched a special India Channel in October 2007 to help Indian suppliers find local and global buyers for their products and services. The India Channel has been well received by members, with more than 20,000 Indian companies signing up each month since January 2008.
Founded in 1999 in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba.com has built a global community of more than 27 million members from over 200 countries and regions. Thanks to Alibaba.com, small businesses around the world are going global and buyers and sellers of everything from automobile parts to evening dresses are finding their perfect trading partners faster and easier than ever before.
India is the second fastest growing major economy in the world. It had a GDP growth rate of 9.6% for the fiscal year 2006-2007 and is expected to grow by 8.7% this year. China, the world's fastest growing economy, is India's third largest export country. The Alibaba.com and Infomedia tie-up will help bridge two of the world's fastest growing economies and further promote trade between India and China.
About Alibaba.com Limited
Alibaba.com (HKSE: 1688), a member of the Alibaba Group of companies, is the world's leading B2B e-commerce company. Our international marketplace (www.Alibaba.com) focuses on global importers and exporters and our China marketplace (www.Alibaba.com.cn) focuses on suppliers and buyers trading domestically in China. Together, our marketplaces form a community of more than 27 million registered users from over 200 countries and regions.
About Infomedia India Limited
Infomedia India Limited is India's leading media company with strong market presence in diverse business areas spanning Yellow Pages, Magazine Publishing, Printing Services and Publishing Outsourcing. A pan-Indian network covering 26 cities with over 2,200 employees gives Infomedia a national footprint. The Company is the undisputed market leader in Yellow Pages and Special Interest Publishing and is one of the most respected contract printers in the country. Infomedia has expanded into the Publishing Outsourcing segment and is well placed to consolidate its position in this booming market with tremendous growth potential. Infomedia is a part of the Network 18 group – India's fastest growing media conglomerate.
Source: http://news.alibaba.com/
Former President of B&Q China brings solid operational experience and industry expertise to drive expansion of Alibaba's business-to-business marketplaces
Hangzhou, China, 20 November 2006 - Alibaba.com, the leading B2B e-commerce company in China and one of the largest B2B marketplaces on the Internet, today announced that David Wei has joined the company as president. Mr. Wei will be responsible for Alibaba's two B2B marketplaces, Alibaba International and Alibaba China. Collectively the two websites have more than 18 million registered members in over 200 countries and territories.
The appointment comes as the Alibaba Group restructures its operations into two divisions: one B2B division, including the Alibaba.com websites, and one consumer division, including the Taobao, Alipay and Yahoo! China businesses.
"David brings a strong combination of leadership, management experience and industry expertise," said Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba Group. "David's extensive experience in growing a large-scale retail and sourcing organization will be instrumental to further building our success as a global e-commerce company serving customers around the world."
Mr. Wei said: "Alibaba.com is a company I have long admired not only for its foresight and vision but for its steadfast commitment to creating value for customers. The company has exciting opportunities ahead and it's a great honor for me to join its leadership team."
Prior to joining Alibaba.com, Mr. Wei served as President of B&Q China since June 2002, and Chief Representative of Kingfisher Asia Limited since June 2003. During his tenure as President of B&Q China, Mr. Wei grew the company from five stores and 1,300 employees to 55 stores and 13,000 employees in 23 cities in mainland China, making it the third largest foreign retailer in China. While at B&Q China, he also played a leading role in growing B&Q's global sourcing operation.
Mr. Wei was the managing director and head of investment banking at Orient Securities Company Ltd. from 1998 to 2000 and worked at Coopers&Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) from 1995 to 1998. He graduated from the London Business School and holds a bachelor's degree in international business management from Shanghai International Studies University.
Mr. Wei serves as the Vice Chairman of the China Retail Chain Association, plays a leading role in a number of industry associations and will continue to serve as a non-executive director for several companies.
Source: http://news.alibaba.com/
Hong Kong, July 20, 2007 - Alibaba.com, the most-visited B2B marketplace on the Internet in terms of user traffic, and Koelnmesse, one of the world's largest trade fair organizers, today formed a strategic alliance covering joint marketing activities for trade fairs in Asia.
Alibaba.com and Koelnmesse will initially collaborate to promote the China International Hardware Show, the world's second largest hardware show, and leading food fairs including Sweets China, International Sweet&SnackTec China 2007, World of Food China and International FoodTec China. The two companies intend to explore a similar partnership arrangement for trade fairs in Europe.
"This alliance is a win-win for both parties," said Mr. Michael Dreyer, Vice President Asia Pacific, Koelnmesse. "We are confident that Alibaba.com's Trade Show Partnership program will help us effectively promote our events to the online community and bring in more participants. Alibaba.com will benefit by promoting their online service to buyers and sellers who participate in our events."
David Wei, President of Alibaba.com, said, "We are delighted that Koelnmesse, one of the world's premier trade show organizers, has joined our Trade Show Partnership program. Our strength in Asia and Koelnmesse's well-established base in Europe complement each other well. By working together, we can become an even more powerful facilitator of world trade for buyers and sellers everywhere."
Alibaba.com's Trade Show Partnership program is bringing together the combined forces of leading trade fair and exhibition companies and one of the world's largest online B2B marketplaces. This partnership is aimed at increasing attendance at Koelnmesse trade shows, promoting Alibaba.com to Koelnmesse's international and German domestic customers and giving exhibitors and buyers the benefit of the best sourcing opportunities online and offline.
In 2006, Koelnmesse held its three food fairs in Shanghai concurrently for the first time, creating immense synergy for different sectors of the food production chain. The fairs received almost 30,000 trade visitors and featured around 500 exhibitors.
Around the world, Koelnmesse organized 74 trade fairs and exhibitions last year in over 25 trade sectors, including major trade fairs such as International Hardware Fair/PRACTICAL WORLD, Asia-Pacific Sourcing, spoga + gafa, Anuga and ISM. Its main exhibition ground in Cologne, Germany attracts around two million buyers from more than 200 countries every year. For more information on Koelnmesse trade fairs and events abroad, please visit www.koelnmesse.com.
Source: http://news.alibaba.com/
The Wall Street Journal, February 25, 2004
BEIJING -- When Li Bo began producing memento buttons in 1998, he reckoned his three-man operation would sell mostly to tourist-site operators nearby.
Then he registered his company with Alibaba.com, a Chinese Internet company that specializes in introducing manufacturers and buyers across China and around the world. A Chinese trading company more than 1,240 miles from Mr. Li's base in Shenyang saw the listing and ordered 200,000 political-campaign buttons for a buyer in France. Last year, Mr. Li's company generated the equivalent of $845,700 in revenue, and garnered half its orders from people who learned about the company through Alibaba.com's Web site.
Electronic commerce is changing the way companies all over the world do business, making it easier for them to buy and sell to each other and to connect with customers. But in China, e-commerce is having an especially big impact in helping small private businesses sell nationally and even internationally.
Hampered by poor roads, a creaky transportation network and fractured local markets, small companies have a hard enough time doing deals in other provinces within China; traditionally, it would have been near-impossible for them to identify potential partners abroad. By acting as global trade fairs, Chinese e-commerce sites are allowing many smaller companies to reach a far wider market and to compete directly with larger competitors.
Ant farmer Lu Dengai estimates that her sales of ant nests and eggs jumped one-third to about 80 two months after she followed her son's recommendation and registered the Guangxi province farm on Alibaba.com in November.
Fu Xiaohui, a researcher for the Ministry of Information Industry, estimates the value of online business-to-business deals in China hit 275.6 billion yuan ($33.30 billion) in 2003, with most of these deals initiated online but with payments made offline. By comparison, the official Xinhua news agency put the total amount of such transactions in 2000 at 76.77 billion yuan.
"China has at least one million companies who want to sell products abroad, but they don't know how," says Jack Ma, founder and chief executive of Alibaba.com, widely perceived as China's biggest e-commerce site. The Hangzhou-based company operates two Web sites that serve as a sort of online Yellow Pages for companies looking to buy and sell goods. For an annual fee, users can post information on their companies on the sites and access information about other users.
Alibaba.com commissions basic background checks on its registered users. It also allows users to post references, such as their bank, on the site, enabling businesses to check up on potential partners themselves -- crucial services in a country that has no national credit-rating system.
Source: http://news.alibaba.com/
With market share of more than 67 percent of China's online shoppers, Taobao.com opens doors to large manufacturers and retailers
HANGZHOU, China, 10 May 2006-Alibaba Group announced today the launch of business-to-consumer (B2C) services on its Taobao.com online consumer marketplace. Already China's largest online consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace, Taobao.com is expanding its e-commerce model to include products and services provided by major manufacturers and retailers.
"While American B2C models have failed to succeed in China, Taobao's model will make B2C a reality in China," said Toto Sun, Taobao.com's General Manager. "Because we are simply connecting large sellers to consumers, rather than taking possession of the goods and serving as a middleman, we are offering a solution that will benefit both manufacturers and consumers in China."
Already, Taobao.com has signed up manufacturers and retailers including Motorola, Nokia, Haier, Aigo, Lining, Adidas, Giordano, and UT Starcom. In the coming months, Taobao will aggressively expand its B2C services to include additional leading manufacturers and brands.
"Taobao's growth has been based on four pillars - trust and safety, the AliPay payment system, search and an active marketplace," Sun said. "With Taobao's trusted e-commerce community now leading the market, the site is the ideal channel for manufacturers and retailers to reach millions of consumers and to expand as online shopping becomes a part of everyday life in China."
More than 10 million small- and medium-sized businesses use other Alibaba Group online marketplaces for B2B marketing and sales, and Taobao.com expects to see a large number of Alibaba.com members joining its new program along with leading international companies.
Taobao.com's announcement comes after the China Internet Network Information Center announced this week the results of a new e-commerce study, which found Taobao holding 67.3 percent market share in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, versus eBay China's 29.1 percent. The recent data indicate significant market share growth from the fourth quarter of 2005, when Taobao.com was found to hold 57.7 percent market share by independent research firm Analysys International. Another recent study, by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, found Taobao.com to be the clear market leader in China, with 72.2 percent market share.
Koubei.com was founded in Hangzhou in June 2004 and is one of China's largest online classified listing companies. It offers local classifieds and discussion forums for multiple cities in China allowing people to find and share information on apartment rentals, restaurants, entertainment, employment, goods and services, and just about anything else. Koubei.com has over two million registered users.
Taobao.com now has more than 26 million product listings, nearly 20 million registered users, and over 100 million page views per day. In 2005, Taobao's transaction volume, or Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV), reached US$1billion, up 700 percent from 2004. AliPay, China's leading online payment solution, recently reached 150,000 transactions per day.
Source: http://news.alibaba.com/
HONG KONG, December 19,2008 – The Board of Directors of Alibaba.com (HKSE: 1688; 1688.HK), the world's leading business-to-business e-commerce company, today elected a veteran businessman with e-commerce experience as a new independent, non-executive director. The board also re-designated an existing non-executive director, also an experienced e-commerce executive, as an independent director. As a result, the board announced, more than one-third of Alibaba.com directors will now be independent non-executive directors.
The Board elected Savio Kwan as an independent, non-executive director, as well as member of the company's audit and nomination committees, effective immediately. The Board also voted, upon the recommendation of the nomination committee, to re-designate Andrew Tsuei, an existing non-executive director, as an independent non-executive director, also effective immediately. Tsuei will keep his present investment management committee assignments.
"With today's decisions, the Board has not only enhanced the governance of Alibaba.com with additional independent oversight, but we have also satisfied a commitment made earlier to recruit independent directors with e-commerce experience," said Jack Ma, chairman and non-executive director of Alibaba.com and chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, holding company for Alibaba.com. "We are fortunate to have directors of the caliber of Savio Kwan and Andrew Tsuei to inform our strategies and to represent shareholder interests."
Kwan is currently a partner and chief executive officer of A&K Consulting Co., Limited, a company co-founded by him in 2005 focusing on helping small and medium enterprises and start-ups in China. He served as president and chief operating officer of Alibaba Group, now the holding company of Alibaba.com, from 2001 to 2003, and chief people officer in 2004, He has more than 30 years of global management experience, including 17 years at the Medical Systems Division of General Electric Company, during which he was responsible for sales, marketing, operations, business development and establishment of joint venture companies in Asia region. He also served as the managing director of the China operations of BTR plc, a United Kingdom- based Fortune 500 company, for four years.
Kwan was a board member of the Asia Pacific advisory board of York International Corporation, a leading global air conditioning system provider and a unit of Johnson Controls, Inc., a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He is also a visiting executive professor of Henley Management College in the United Kingdom. Kwan received a Higher National Diploma from Cambridgeshire College of Technology in the United Kingdom and holds Master's degrees in Science from the Loughborough University of Technology and London Graduate School of Business Studies in the United Kingdom.
He will serve until Alibaba's next general meeting of shareholders, and will then stand for election by the shareholders at that time.
Tsuei was appointed as a non-executive director of the Company on October 12, 2007. He was formerly senior vice-president of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. From 2001 to 2007, he was managing director of Wal-Mart's Global Procurement Division, where he oversaw the global procurement operations of Wal-Mart, which has a presence in over 30 countries. Tsuei is also an independent non-executive director of Tao Bao Holding Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group.
Kwan will assume memberships on the Company's audit committee and nomination committee, replacing Long Yong Tu, who will remain on the Company's Board as an independent non-executive director. In addition, the Board announced that, with effect from today, Simon Xie, a founder of Alibaba Group, will resign as an executive director of Alibaba.com as he takes on other responsibilities within Alibaba Group.
"We thank Mr. Long for his contribution to the audit committee and nomination committee and look forward to continuing to receive his guidance on key business issues, particularly in the areas of international trade and globalization. We'd also like to thank Simon for his tireless dedication to the Company for the past 10 years," Ma said.
Effective immediately, the Board will now consist of 13 members, including five independent non-executive directors, up from three previously.
About Alibaba.com Limited
Alibaba.com Limited (HKSE:1688)(HK.1688) is the world's leading B2B e-commerce company. It connects millions of buyers and suppliers from around the world every day through three marketplaces: an English-language marketplace (alibaba.com) for global importers and exporters, a Chinese-language marketplace (alibaba.com.cn) for domestic trade in China, and, through a joint venture, a Japanese-language marketplace (alibaba.co.jp) facilitating trade to and from Japan. Together, its marketplaces form a community of 36 million registered users from over 240 countries and regions. Headquartered in Hangzhou, Alibaba.com has offices in more than 30 cities across mainland China as well as in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe and the United States.
Source: http://news.alibaba.com/
0 comments:
Post a Comment