“The Gurus of Contemporary Business Philosophy: Ma, Gates and

Hastings”

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A Reaction Paper
In Partial Fulfillment to the Subject
DBA 701
Philosophy of Business

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Submitted to:

Dr. Joseph Berlin Juanzon

Professor

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Submitted by:
Marissa C. Cahigan
April 9, 2023
I. Introduction
 This paper reexamines the contemporary business philosophers on how they truly transform
the world with their ideas, visions and belief systems. Business Philosophers question the
status quo and they innovate in creating unique products and solutions that are designed to
change the world and disrupt the status quo. As the author admires these three Philosophers
who are not afraid of taking risks to present their visions and influence the people or future
leaders of businesses.

This reaction paper to the ideas of these Philosophers are part of the discussions and
engagement during class as a student and as an employee in a top 5,000 corporation business.
The learning focuses on Philosophers engagement in discussions and communication of radical
ideas through their previous experiences and their rhetoric.

The paper will focus on the Philosophers legacy through their books; speeches, social media and
personal communications. This paper will focus on three topics which includes, the Jack Ma
Book: Quote & His Life Story, Alibaba and the 40 Thieves of Success, and Alibaba: The House
That Jack Ma Built. Second, the book by Bill Gates, The Road Ahead. Third, No Rules Rule
Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention. The highlight of the author will be on the views of the
philosophers on their culture behind the most innovative, imaginative and successful companies
they’ve built and later on will be the basis in business applications of many companies
worldwide. The views of the author are crafted from the other views and reaction to their
point of view about these three intellectual business gurus.

II. Jack Ma Book

Jack Ma is known for his success story. Businessmen who wanted to become successful
themselves. This book inspires and motivates every reader. The lessons from the “Jack Ma book”
will be the guide of every businessman and entrepreneur whenever they are in the stages of their
lives and in the many facets of life. According to the Philosophy of Jack Ma (Ben Whitter, 2015)
Ma Yun, as he is known in China, is a legend in these parts. To the rest of the World, Jack Ma is now
a global icon, the richest man in China with an estimated net worth of $29.7 billion, the Founder of
the game-changing company, Alibaba Group, and a defining embodiment of the Chinese Dream.

A sign of a rapidly ever changing technology and a lot of innovations happening here and there
challenges me to excel in my own career in Globe Telecom. I am not afraid now with change in the
organization. There is a great deal to learn and follow the leadership styles from Jack Ma and I
intend to. This is Jack Ma’s view on change: "What we have is determination and a vision. A lot of
people hate change, but because we have embraced this change that’s why we have a future. The
next 30 years, this world and China will have even more change. This change is an opportunity for
everyone. Grab this chance." I would say that this is being applied in our telecommunications
industry, we come out of 2022 with unprecedented vigor and optimism despite the challenges that
we are facing. The impact of the pandemic in the economy and the geopolitical tensions made it
tough for the telco business to stay afloat. With this, our company entered into diversifying and
broadening our non-telco business side. From telco to techo, we are striving to transition into
different markets and handle disruptions, telco will remain to be our core business but transforming
our business to the other side of the technology shows how we embrace change and we are
grabbing this chance.

In the book on section Professional Story & Alibaba Group, Jack Ma founded his first company in
the internet industry in 1994. He had envisioned that the internet is going to be the future of the
world. From 1998 to 1999, he led an information company backed by the government. He
instituted Alibaba Group in 1999 along with his friends. He began it as a B2B company. Later it
expanded into an ecommerce company. It further expanded in technology and online payment. He
earned a place in the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders in 2017. Jack Ma was awarded by Forbes as
“Asia’s 2019 Heroes of Philanthropy”. He is among the world’s richest 25 people.
In traditional thinking, Alibaba is not a retailer. The supplies and products were not sourced out by
the company, they don’t keep stock and logistics services are carried out by the vendors and
providers. Alibaba converted the traditional way to online into a sprawling, data-driven network of
sellers, marketers, service providers, logistics companies and manufacturers. Today Alibaba is
Lazada, Shopee, Carousel and the many other start-up buy-and-selling websites known in the
Philippines.

Alibaba leverages the new technologies of network coordination, collaboration and data
intelligence. It created an ecosystem that is real-time, faster, reliable and more efficient than the
traditional way of business infrastructure or supply chain. According to Ming Zeng (2018) in his
article about Alibaba and the Future of Business, “Alibaba hit the headlines with the world’s biggest
IPO in September 2014. Today, the company has a market cap among the global top 10, has
surpassed Walmart in global sales, and has expanded into all the major markets in the world.
Founder Jack Ma has become a household name.”

I can closely relate this to our GCash, the Philippine mobile wallet, mobile payment and branchless
banking service. It started in 2004, owned by Mynt formerly Globe Fintech Innovations Inc which
is a joint venture of Ant Group, an affiliate company of the Alibaba Group. It reached 20 million
active users in 2019 with 63,000 merchants in the Philippines and in a span of 3 years, it grew up to
80 million active users. Jack Ma’s philosophy guided him to go into fields of technology and e-
commerce. If we keep on doing routinary things then we can’t build new ways. With Gcash, they
never re-miss to guard the momentum and continue to develop and beef up their mobile
application. Gcash built a team that accomplished big things which is a result of team-work.

In the book published by Think Maverick, Alibaba and the 40 Thieves of Success, he collected the
thoughts and acts of Jack Ma. Every entrepreneur and start up must follow them. The author used
this as a teaser from Jack Ma’s words: “Instead of learning from other people’s success, learn from
their mistakes. Most of the people who fail share common reasons (to fail) whereas success can be
attributed to various different kinds of reasons.” Businesses today can do trial and error to
recognize the journey it takes to arrive at the peak. There are always different ways to attain
success but only few reasons for complete and utter failure. You'll not only learn about the 40 key
leading principles millionaire entrepreneurs know about kick-starting a business, but you'll also
learn; the unorthodox methods of Jack which makes him a Maverick; the Pratfall Effect & the
Forrest Gump Strategy. You will also learn how he uses these two strategies to ultimately get
investors and his team to trust him even more than the Brilliant Genius in the room and the "holy
Grail" of gaining an infinite amount of entrepreneurial energy. Another one is about
entrepreneurial success secrets without the BS; how to break through the next Goal Barrier and
uncover the Midas Touch of a Maverick Entrepreneur and lastly, how to bring your lofty ideas to
Life! The author emphasizes that short-term passion is worthless, be sure you’re in it for the long
haul. But this is his gospel and they don’t necessarily guarantee success. Nevertheless, Jack has
always thought of ways to improve society as a whole, while a businessman only has money in his
mind. That’s the major difference. By understanding Jack’s approach towards life, business and
management, we can gain some insights into what it takes to become a Maverick Entrepreneur. As
he continues to grow Alibaba and expand into new industries, his message and influence is vital for
the younger generation of social entrepreneurs. Find like-minded people who are hungry for
success rather than those who have already made it. Act like a wise leader and not the most
intelligent one around. It is better to be wise than be the one who knows it all. A wise leader always
believes that there are smarter people out there; therefore he/she is never complacent. Even if
you’re struggling in your business right now, Even if you’ve spent years trying to get your business
to work, even if you’ve thoughts of throwing in the towel at times, Don’t give up. Be a survivor.
Entrepreneurship is all about weathering the storms and going into one battle after another just to
see your dreams come true. If your big & hairy audacious goals are too far-flung, try setting a more
realistic goal first, then gradually make your way up the list. But never ever give up.

In the book published by Duncan Clark, The House that Jack Ma Built, the author emphasizes the
Alibaba Group stories and focuses on the formation of the organization, its management and its
systems. The author demonstrated Jack’s journey from being a regular boy of China to Asia’s
richest man and to me he is incomparable with Jeff Bezos nor Elon Mask. You can feel it from the
spirit of the excerpts that says, “Today is brutal, tomorrow is more brutal, but the day after
tomorrow is beautiful. However, the majority of people will die tomorrow night.” It only means
that while we are growing businesses and we are working in different industries, we should always
find a place to leave a legacy or contribution for the future of humanity.

The key takeaways from Jack Ma books are today, making money is very simple but making
sustainable money while being responsible to society and improving the world is very difficult.
Companies should have a sustainability development plan for all. Companies should have a
purpose-led organization which seeks to create a better world by combining innovation with the
power of collaboration to achieve sustainable strategies that can transform business models,
products and services and the communities where they operate.

III. Bill Gates, The Road Ahead

This contemporary philosopher is one of the most respected entrepreneurs of our time and the co-
founder of Microsoft, he became one of the richest men in the world. The Road Ahead summarized
the implications of the personal computing revolution and described a future profoundly changed
by the arrival of a global information superhighway. It talks about the cultural and technological
revolution. Bill Gates illustrates the billion dollar visionary where it’s closer to where we are today.
He already foresaw in the early 90s electronic excess in which more and more people own a
personal computer and telephone. He does an expert job of predicting the rise of computers in
money markets and business in the 21st century such as household assistants like robots that will
have the ability to do essentially all chores and even more. Bill Gates legacy will not only help
businesses plan ahead but more importantly for next entrepreneurs to reflect, be creative and
adaptive in terms of technological advancement, so we can build upon what we’ve learned to
create the next big thing. Top business lessons that can be used like a staple food are think ahead,
value time, innovate fast, take risks, learn from failures, persistence, focus on unhappy customers,
and never give up. The author expanded think ahead where if you want to keep ahead of your
competition, regardless of what field you are working in, you need to keep preparing for and
predicting the future. Bill Gates is renowned for his futuristic vision, and Microsoft always kept one
step ahead of any of their nearest competition. This even continues with his philanthropy work.
Next is the value of time which truly is one of the most important resources we have in our lives.
Bill Gates stated that regardless of the money you have, it is impossible to buy back time. Don’t
waste your working hours away, and think wisely about how you are spending every hour of your
day. In our ever-changing world, it’s essential to keep up with the constant updates and changes to
technology. In a world that is full of new start-ups, you need to always move faster than your
competitors. This is how Bill Gates thrived in the business world. He always focused on continuous
innovation, which is apparent with Microsoft. Bill Gates stated that it’s often a cultural issue, not
just a technical one. You need everyone within your company to be on board with moving as fast as
they can within their job role. Bill Gates always recommended that aspiring entrepreneurs should
think outside the box and always try to take a new path. By tapping into new business areas,
success is available in any field. When Microsoft first came into our world, no one knew about
computer software. By taking a big risk, this is when you have the chance to win big. Mistakes can
act as a lesson to all of us, and Bill Gates is a big believer in this. Instead of sitting around upset
about an error, learn from your mistakes and move on. Bill Gates famously said; “It’s fine to
celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” Following on from
making mistakes, to succeed in business, you will need to have a lot of patience to persevere
through the good and bad times. He's co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, always praised Bill Gates’
perseverance. He wouldn’t give up until he reached the result he was looking for. While it’s easy to
speak to happy customers, take time to understand and listen to those disgruntled ones. Instead of
trying to argue back and tell them they are wrong, know that you can learn so much from them.
Take into account any feedback they are giving you, as it’s a cheap and easy way to adjust and
improve your product or service for the future. If you want to succeed in business, you must never
give up at the first hurdle. Failure and mistakes are a natural part of any entrepreneurial journey.
Did you know that before Microsoft was launched, Bill Gates and Paul Allen started a company
called Traf-O-Data? It was a big failure, causing a lot of debt for Gates. However, with persistence
and perseverance, he created Microsoft, and we all know how that story went!
IV. Reed Hastings

Hastings’s leadership lessons are documented in the 2020 book, No Rules Rules: Netflix and the
Culture of Reinvention, which he co-authored with business writer Erin Meyer. The philosophy of
Reed Hastings, for this author, throughout No Rule Rules, Hastings is emphatic that employees of
no matter their rank in the Netflix company hierarchy are empowered to make big bets without
sign-off. If they fail, though, they have to “sunshine” it. That means, if you’re a Netflix employee,
and your project or idea crashes and burns, you have to share with the company your
comprehensive assessment of what went wrong and what you learned. As Hastings said in the
book, “ “When you sunshine your failed bets, everyone wins. You win because people learn they
can trust you to tell the truth and to take responsibility for your actions. The team wins because it
learns from the lessons that came out of the project. And the company wins because everyone
sees clearly that failed bets are an inherent part of an innovative success wheel.”

Netflix has been able to hire and retain top talent and remain innovative largely because of the
company’s commitment to hiring high performers, giving them lots of transparency and freedom
and avoiding imposing rules that might get in their way. The question now is, why do great
colleagues leave? That is playing on my mind for quite a while. Every case is different, but if you
zoom out a bit it often boils down to one or more of the following: lacking creative freedom and /
or autonomy to do the job in the desired way; inability to improve the direct work environment;
lack of improvement of the company as a whole; feeling gagged or stifled by processes or
hierarchy; decisions that make no sense on operational level; being tired of company politics and
intransparency; and inability to get a raise due to performance management and budget
constraints. The list could probably be even longer. From what I’ve seen in my 20 years in the
telecommunications industry, that’s pretty much the norm, not the exception in typical
companies. The author gives a holistic view on the company culture and HR strategy of Netflix. It
outlines on which principles and ideas they grew the company to their now around 7000 multi-
national employees, without sacrificing their baseline culture. It’s written in an unconventional
style. The book switches back and forth between two narrators: Reed, the CEO of Netflix, who
provides the general ideas and Erin Mayer, an external author, who sort-of fact-checks the
arguments and principles by interviewing countless Netflix employees. Both parts together
manage to paint a picture of the company that feels authentic, because it also features stories and
interviews of people who didn’t fit into the Netflix culture.

What I find remarkable judging by comparison with all the companies I’ve worked for is how
different the Netflix approach is from typical standards. For example, companies hire only top
people and pay them above market standard (instead of the typical manager worker separation).
Some adjust their salary based on the market demand (instead of individual performance and job
changes because of missing salary increases). While feedback culture on all levels is encouraged
and expected (compared to the typical no-go or career end when challenging someone up the
hierarchy). There is a high transparency in terms of business numbers (over just the management
having access or shielding employees from business aspects in order not to distract them). Also,
there are very few processes, high autonomy and freedom of decisions on an operational level
(instead of governance processes and company standards everywhere). Some are acting in the
best interest of the company (instead of pleasing your boss or vanity KPIs). Thus, the overall idea
of treating employees as responsible and accountable adults (over workforce that needs to be
managed) and managing by context (instead of more detailed guidelines).

Especially the keeper test and the idea of quickly separating from people that don’t manage to live
up to Netflix expectations is controversial. I’m not even sure it would be feasible in Germany
where I live (given the fairly strict laws we have). But I can definitely see that a high talent depth is
the foundation on which everything else stands.

Netflix somehow managed to create a creative person's dream environment. High salary, high
stakes, high accountability and lots of creative freedom. Looking at the points at the start of this
review, I can definitely imagine that with this strategy a company is able to retain much more of
its top performers over the course of several years, compared to their competitors.
 And also that this system is ridiculously hard to copy for existing companies with employees who
don’t thrive but crumble when the training wheels come off.

I always wanted to work with and learn from the best. I love to have creative freedom in my work
and have no trouble with being accountable for my results. As such Netflix sounds like a dream. I
believe Globe has crafted its culture well and that is one of the reasons why I chose to stay and
contribute to its growth and support the mission and vision.

References:
Clark, D. 2016 Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built. New York. Ecco Press.
Gates, B. ed. by Myhrvold, N. Rinearson, P. 1995. The Road Ahead. New York. Viking Press.
Greater China Business Club. 2013. Jack Ma: Ideas and Technology Can Change the World. Stanford
Graduate School of Business. Stanford University
Hastings, R. Meyer, E. 2020. No Rule Rules, Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention. New York.
Koss, H. 2023. 7 Leadership Lessons From Former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. Builtin.
Zeng, Ming.  2018. Alibaba and the Future of Business.  New York:Harvard Business Review
Zitelmann, R. 2019. Becoming a Billionaire Without a Plan. Forbes. Random House Large Print
Publishing