E-Commerce Is For Young People, Small Enterprises, Regulation Not Essential, Alibaba Founder Tells Geneva

Electronic commerce should be the realm of young people under 30 and of small enterprises, according to Alibaba founder Jack Ma, speaking at an event on digital trade in Geneva this week. He also pressed countries to just get on the e-commerce train, and worry about regulations later. Meanwhile, World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevêdo said at the same event that without help small companies would no better survive the competition of large companies online than they did in the real world.

The session entitled “Digital transformation for All: Empowering Entrepreneurs and Small Business” was organised on 25 April during the United Nations Conference on Trade And Development (UNCTAD)’s E-Commerce Week, from 24-28 April.

Azevêdo, also at the session, said discussions on e-commerce should have started a while back at the WTO. There is a need for a collaborative effort, he said, getting everybody at the table, especially those who are the least involved in e-commerce.

Online connectivity is critical, he said, but it is not sufficient, as many other aspects need to be addressed, such as the lack of infrastructure, delivery issues, bureaucratic “overdose”, and lack of payment methods. There is no point being connected if products cannot reach the buyer, he said.

In the morning, Azevêdo participated in the first ministerial meeting of the “Friends of E-Commerce for Development” (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Uruguay). He said in his speech that many WTO members want to set a path forward for discussions on e-commerce, “with a view to ensuring that e-commerce supports growth and development in the years to come.”

However, he said, “if we are going to advance, we have to turn that engagement into real proposals,” and focus on specifics.

The Friends of E-commerce for Development released a roadmap today for global digital commerce discussions (IPW, WTO/TRIPS, 25 April 2017).

Jack Ma: Go Easy on Regulation, Just Jump in

For the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, who is also special adviser to UNCTAD for young entrepreneurs and small business, countries should just jump right in, regulation or not. In a few years, he said, all commerce will be e-commerce. With an annual revenue over US$550 billion, the businessman is a strong proponent of globalisation. Globalisation and trade are still a solution for job creation, and will remain so for the next 30 years, he said.

He said he finds European leaders too timid, worrying about cyber security and privacy issues. “You cannot solve the problem beforehand,” he said, encouraging countries to engage in e-commerce, and then solve the issues as they go.

“If you want to do it, today is the time to do it,” he said.

“E-commerce is designed for developing countries,” for those companies not able to compete with big firms, said Ma.

Most developing countries do not have any e-commerce, he said, adding that many people want rules of law before e-commerce, and “that is very scary to me.”

“We have solutions,” and experience, he said, and Alibaba learned from mistakes it made. With US$500 billion in revenue, “we must have solved these problems,” he said.

Dismissing some concerns, he said consumers are very smart: “you can cheat them once, but not a second time.”

He advised to devise simple rules and law. E-commerce is much easier to manage than the real world, he said. “Don’t worry about it, it is going to make our world more colourful,” he added.

He said e-commerce is for young people, mainly people under 30, who were born in the internet era, and for small businesses.

On 25 April, Ma also visited the WTO to discuss how e-commerce can help SMEs, according to the WTO.

Ma “outlined the proposal for the establishment of an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP),” the WTO said. The platform is meant to bring together the private sector, and in particular SMEs, governments, international organisations, “and all other stakeholders with the aim of establishing a more favourable and standardised regulatory environment for e-commerce.”

WTO: No Forceful Rules, Sharing of Best Practices

Azevêdo agreed that the most painful punishment for companies is the market, however, he said regulation at the WTO would not be about impeding, controlling, harmonising by force, but about sharing best practices, learning from others, and maybe establishing standards that could be acceptable for everyone and could serve as an option.

“I am a hundred percent convinced that if we don’t do something e-commerce is going to be dominated by big companies,” he said. If small players are not helped, they will disappear, he added, just like small physical commerce is disappearing, it will be the same for e-commerce.

The first thing is to pay attention to small players. Governments are not thinking about small enterprises, because they do not know the problems that they face, he said.

Ma: Governments ‘Mouth Talking’, Women Leaders

Ma concurred. Governments are “only mouth talking,” when it comes to SMEs, he said. They do not know what to do. “We should make rules of law from SMEs,” as the current ones were made for big companies, he said.

He also paid tribute to women. “If you want a successful company” at least 30 percent of the management should be composed of women, he said, adding “women care for others much more than men.”

This century is not about a competition of muscles, he said, but a competition of brain and wisdom. “We are going to have a lot of women leaders,” he foresaw, starting nourished applause.

 

Image Credits: Catherine Saez