“Alibaba, a company started out of Mr. Ma’s apartment in 1999, is now a technology colossus
worth more than American stalwarts like eBay and Hewlett-Packard”. This is one of the sentences of an article by David Barboza which appeared in The New York Times in 2014. In this article Barboza recounts, how Jack Ma the founder of Alibaba has revolutionised e-commerce in China. The article is entitled “The Jack Ma Way”.
Your task is to prepare an evaluation of the leadership and management. The Barboza article should be your starting point. You need to find out how his career has progressed since The New York Times article. You will find extensive information about Jack Ma on the web.
Guidelines:
1. Your report should be about 2,500 words excluding references, Ariel 11 point, single-sided, 1.5 line spacing.
2. In writing your report you are expected to utilise leadership and change theory in your critical assessment of Jack Ma. In so doing you may, among other issues, wish to consider the following issues:
• Is Jack Ma a manager or a leader or both? Set out your rationale underpinning your answer.
• The characteristics and skills that have helped him drive the company forward.
• What could be the consequences of taking his style too far?
• Will Jack Ma be the right person for Alibaba during the times ahead, or does the
company now require more of a ‘manager’ than a ‘leader’?
Your challenge is complex and you may make reference to any other issues that you deem relevant to a thorough understanding of Ma’s leadership style.
3. Make sure that your analysis is well-written, clearly organised and has a logical flow. The following is a safe format (in other words, you can do it other ways, but this one is likely to work). First, start out by stating executive summary, highlighting the main findings and conclusions. Second, write a short introduction telling the reader what is to follow. Third, analyse the evidence by applying relevant theory. Fourth, summarise and draw conclusions.
4. Finally in terms of writing style, It should be a effectively write a management report with references. Therefore, please feel free to use headings and bullet points.