Norges Bank Investment Management - Joe Tsai Co-founder & Chair of Alibaba | In Good Company | Norges Bank Investment Management
发布时间:2024-04-03 04:00:24
原节目
以下是上述内容的中文翻译:
阿里巴巴联合创始人兼董事长蔡崇信分享了他的人生经历、阿里巴巴的演变以及当前的经济和地缘政治格局。他回顾了13岁时从台湾到美国的经历,强调了他通过体育融入社会的努力,最终打进了校队的美式橄榄球和长曲棍球队。蔡崇信将自己强大的职业道德归功于他的父亲,一位才华横溢但要求严厉的人。
蔡崇信的职业道路从法律转向了在香港Investor AB的投资工作,在那里他学习了金融和估值的基本原理。1999年,他被敦促去杭州会见马云。他描述了阿里巴巴的早期,在一个小公寓里运营,团队成员全心全意地致力于将中国的中小型出口商与全球市场连接起来。他看到了他们的奉献精神。被马云的愿景和团队的承诺所打动,蔡崇信加入了阿里巴巴。
他解释说,阿里巴巴最初的重点是一个英文的B2B市场,目标是西方买家。他强调了公司的使命:让在任何地方开展业务都变得容易,其核心DNA是支持小企业。大约在2005年,当雅虎表示有兴趣投资时,阿里巴巴的潜力变得清晰起来。雅虎的12.5亿美元投资,使该公司的估值超过40亿美元,验证了该公司的成功。
蔡崇信承认阿里巴巴各项业务面临的竞争日益激烈,并坦率地承认,由于缺乏对用户体验的关注,该公司已经落后。他强调,新任CEO更年轻,更关注用户,正在领导努力纠正这一问题,首先是承认过去的错误,并重组公司结构以符合其战略。他提到官僚主义正在滋生,并且不愿意承认错误。新领导层对谦逊和明确愿景的强调对员工士气至关重要。
在讨论中国经济时,蔡崇信指出,生产(占全球生产的31%)和消费(占全球消费的14%)之间存在不平衡。他指出,包括房地产市场低迷带来的财富效应以及对就业保障的担忧等因素正在抑制消费者信心,尽管储蓄率很高。他还表示,监管压力并未增加,但现在更加明确。
蔡崇信认为,尽管有一些回流和供应链多元化,但由于其庞大而勤劳的劳动力,中国仍将是一个制造业强国。他谈到了人工智能革命,强调了自主开发的大型语言模型(LLM)对于阿里巴巴的云业务的重要性,以及人工智能在电子商务中的丰富用例,从虚拟试衣间到人工智能生成的产品描述。他承认中国目前在人工智能发展方面落后美国公司约两年,但他相信差距正在缩小。
对中国出口高端芯片的限制是一个大问题。中国的半导体能力对阿里巴巴的云业务及其提供高端计算服务的能力至关重要。他们正在开发自己的芯片,并且正在寻找其他供应商来采购他们的芯片。
关于地缘政治考量,蔡崇信强调遵守所有运营区域的法律和政策的重要性,以避免监管和政治审查。他强调了阿里巴巴在促进美国和中国以及欧洲和中国之间的贸易中的作用,强调了该公司的全球影响力。
蔡崇信建议不要概括地看待中国,并警告不要与中国人民对赌。他认为强大的企业文化是阿里巴巴的关键,可以定义为认同公司的使命,清楚地理解其方向,并享受与同事一起工作。他重视及时的反馈和员工赋权。
蔡崇信对体育,尤其是篮球的热爱,促使他拥有了布鲁克林篮网队。他认为体育教会人们纪律、努力以及如何从失败中恢复过来。他喜欢在工作中应用高强度间歇训练,即专注于一项任务两到三个小时,然后休息一下。他还喜欢阅读间谍小说,尤其是约翰·勒卡雷的作品。
最后,蔡崇信建议年轻人培养一两项基本技能,成为自己领域的专家。他还建议学习数据科学和心理学,以全面了解技术和人类行为。
Joe Tsai, co-founder and chairman of Alibaba, shares insights into his life, the evolution of Alibaba, and the current economic and geopolitical landscape. He recounts his transition from Taiwan to the US at age 13, highlighting his efforts to integrate through sports, ultimately playing varsity football and lacrosse. Tsai attributes his strong work ethic to his father, a brilliant but demanding figure.
Tsai's career path led him from law to investment at Investor AB in Hong Kong, where he learned the fundamentals of finance and valuation. In 1999, he was urged to meet Jack Ma in Hangzhou. He described the early days of Alibaba, operating out of a small apartment with a team of dedicated individuals focused on connecting small and medium-sized Chinese exporters with global markets. He saw their dedication. Impressed by Ma's vision and the team's commitment, Tsai joined Alibaba.
He explains that Alibaba's initial focus was a B2B marketplace in English, targeting Western buyers. He emphasized the company's mission: to make it easy to do business anywhere, with a core DNA of supporting small businesses. The scale of Alibaba's potential became clear around 2005 when Yahoo expressed interest in investing. The $1.25 billion investment from Yahoo, valuing the company at over $4 billion, validated the company's success.
Tsai acknowledges the increasing competition in various Alibaba businesses and candidly admits that the company had fallen behind due to a lack of focus on user experience. He emphasizes that the new CEO, who is younger and more user-focused, is leading efforts to rectify this, starting with acknowledging past mistakes and reorganizing the company structure to align with its strategy. He mentions that bureaucracy was building up and there was a reluctance to acknowledge mistakes. The new leadership's emphasis on humility and a clear vision is crucial for employee morale.
Discussing the Chinese economy, Tsai notes the imbalance between production (31% of global production) and consumption (14% of global consumption). He points to factors tempering consumer confidence, including the wealth effect from the property downturn and concerns about job security, despite high savings rates. He also states that regulatory pressures are not increasing but are now more clear.
Tsai believes China will remain a manufacturing powerhouse due to its large and industrious workforce, despite some reshoring and diversification of supply chains. He addresses the AI revolution, emphasizing the importance of a proprietary large language model (LLM) for Alibaba's cloud business and the rich use cases for AI in e-commerce, from virtual dressing rooms to AI-generated product descriptions. While acknowledging that China is currently behind US companies in AI development by about two years, he believes the gap is closing.
The restriction on export of high-end chips to China is a big issue. China's semiconductor capabilities are crucial for Alibaba's cloud business and its ability to offer high-end computing services. They are developing their own chips, and they're looking at other players to source their chips.
Regarding geopolitical considerations, Tsai stresses the importance of compliance with laws and policies in all operating regions to avoid regulatory and political scrutiny. He highlights Alibaba's role in facilitating trade between the US and China, as well as Europe and China, emphasizing the company's global reach.
Tsai advises against generalizing about China and cautions against betting against the Chinese people. He believes strong corporate culture is key for Alibaba which can be defined as identifying with the company's mission, clearly understanding its direction, and enjoying working with colleagues. He values immediate feedback and empowerment of employees.
Tsai's love for sports, especially basketball, led him to own the Brooklyn Nets. He believes sports teach discipline, hard work, and how to bounce back from failure. He likes to apply high intensity interval training in his work day by focusing on a task for two or three hours, then taking a break. He also enjoys reading spy novels, especially those by John le Carré.
Finally, Tsai advises young people to develop one or two fundamental skills to become experts in their field. He also recommends learning data science and psychology to gain a comprehensive understanding of both technology and human behavior.