CLASS ACTIVITY 18

A Little Electronic Magic at Alibaba.com

Professor Ignacio Hernández Medina MCP & MID

Instructions
A) Make teams of three members, each one with a laptop.
B) Answer each of the questions that follow in a clear and justified manner.
C) At the end of the class you must upload the activity in Moodle: week 11, Activity 18.
D) Team that does not deliver the activity BEFORE SUNDAY will lose the
participation points of the class.
(EACH DAY OF DELAY YOU WILL LOOSE 10% OF THE GRADE)
Please read the Case and answer the questions:

A Little Electronic Magic at Alibaba.com

Electronic commerce is changing the way companies around the world do business.
The Internet has opened up a whole new era of business opportunities, making virtual
information, on any product from virtually any market accessible readily and
inexpensively. Alibaba.com is a Web site that facilitates transactions between
importers and exporters around the world. Other Web sites that have created similar
online marketplaces include www.koreatradeworld.com, focused on products from
South Korea, www.trade-India.com for Indian products, and www.bizeurope.com for
Europe. These electronic trading venues have changed the mechanics of importing
and exporting and opened up tremendous opportunities, especially for smaller
enterprises. The impact has been especially dramatic for small Chinese
manufacturers, who now have ready access to a global market for their products.

QUESTIONS

1) Do you think most international trade might eventually take place through Web
sites like alibaba.com? How might that influence your interest in importing and
exporting?

2) Identify a product you would like to import. Visit www.alibaba.com, go to the

advanced search field, and enter it. Select required criteria and click on “Search.”
Review the list of companies that qualify. Find a suitable seller. Analyze this
process for ease, usefulness, and potential value.

3) Identify and describe three Web sites like Alibaba to export and import.

4) Visit www.alibaba.com and www.europages.com. Compare and contrast these

Web sites.
5) Please provide three recommendations that you would offer an SME, based on
the opportunities and constraints of electronic Web sites like Alibaba, as it
considers engaging in exporting or importing.

6) How transparent do sites like Alibaba.com make the import-export transaction?

Would you still worry about fraud?

DO NOT FORGET TO INCLUDE BIBLIOGRAPHY PLEASE

Internet bibliographic citations must have these 4 items:

1. Title: “Globalization 4.0 – what it means and how it could benefit us all”.
2. Organization: “World Economic Forum”.
3. Date of retrieve: “Retrieved 22 August 2020”.
4. Link: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/globalization-4-what-
does-it-mean-how-it-will-benefit-everyone/

EXAMPLE:
“Globalization 4.0 – what it means and how it could benefit us all”. World Economic
Forum. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/globalization-4-what-does-it-mean-how-
it-will-benefit-everyone/