As a long-time buyer on Alibaba's Taobao, China's answer to eBay, I'm not terribly concerned with who wins and who loses in the current scuffle between the
e-commerce giant and Liu Hongliang, the director general of China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC). In the end, the results won't have much effect on how I use the site.
But as someone with many contacts in the company, I'm inundated with information that makes it difficult for me to watch from the sidelines. Many Alibaba Group employees have taken to their WeChat accounts to complain about the unfair treatment by Hongliang and SAIC. The employees feel aggrieved, and the company seems to have organized a social-media campaign against the official in question.
The Chinese government may be criticized for its overbearing behavior sometimes, but it is ill advised that such an intense social-media campaign is targeting individual officials. Jack Ma, the most popular new-generation entrepreneur in China right now, has always pushed Alibaba to create miracles. Unfortunately, he may have inadvertently helped to create a company culture where business ethics are not taken seriously.
One might say the long-standing issue of counterfeits is not Alibaba's fault, as the market is replete with unscrupulous elements. Yet two other Chinese companies, Lenovo and Huawei, have come of age in this far-from-perfect Chinese market, and their founders, Liu Chuanzhi and Ren Zhengfei, have taken the path of responsibility when facing similar situations. That's why they have earned widespread respect.
China should still value entrepreneurs like Jack Ma. But for those who believe a fair market under the rule of law is more important than any single company, Ma and Alibaba need to do more to restore the confidence of consumers in the wonderful marketplace they have created so far.