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nicharry's review
4.0
Interesting insight into the constant battle of building a business in China. Proof that you can build a massive global business in spite of the external restrictions imposed upon you.
alectocarrow8's review
2.0
Before getting onto this book, I'd pretty much no clue about Jack Ma or Alibaba .I found the book boring with so many facts as well as stories that wasn't gripping.
amrith10's review
4.0
Excellent brief history of Jack Ma before Alibaba, and Alibaba (and thereby Jack Ma) after it's inception. Not academically researched but immensely readable.
lauraghitoi's review
3.0
While I definitely enjoyed learning more about Jack Ma, the way this book was written made reading it quite a challenging mission. The timelines get muddy at times, there are a lot of people introduced (or name dropped) and then never mentioned again and the style is very dry. It felt more like an analysis of the business ecosystem which made Alibaba possible and later, a massive player, rather than a biography of Jack Ma.
sreeraag_mohan's review
2.0
Not a good read, to be honest. The book does delve into a lot of things and there is a lot of information regarding the background of what helped fuel Alibaba's meteoric rise. But the overall writing by Duncan Clark is poor and the book is largely unstructured and often boring to read and found myself struggling to finish certain chapters. Maybe somebody like Walter Isaacsson would have done a better job.
todd_luallen's review
3.0
This book was a bit of a disappointment. It reads more like a collection of news stories that might be interesting to investors. I was hoping for a bit more insight into his personal life. The Phil Knight auto-biography "Shoe Dog" set the bar pretty high, and perhaps it's a bit much to expect so much from Mr. Clark. Regardless, it wasn't as enjoyable as I had hoped. The book will give the reader insight into the founding of Alibaba and it's various IPO's. But it's not going to give you any insight about Jack Ma that isn't readily available in press releases and speeches. Having said that, it is well written and researched and it moves along at a decent pace. If you want a decent look at the founding of Alibaba, and perhaps the business acumen of Jack Ma, you'll probably find it here.
konstantinos_vlachveis's review
4.0
Very good. Contains a lot of information. Would like to have an interview of Jack Ma talking about his experiences
jtrausch's review
4.0
Great overview, but lacked depth and new insights and often felt like it was covering Alibaba from a distance—a bit like reading a particularly helpful Wikipedia article. That said, it was a great primer on Alibaba (and Jack’s) history with plenty of detail on the challenges faced along the way.
anandiyer94's review
4.0
Though presented with a myopic view and hindsight, the author has painstakingly detailed the rise of Alibaba and his "iron triangle". From his days in a stingy apartment to his current foray into media industry, the book has covered a lot, even the controversies surrounding Alibaba. It has quoted a lot of industry sources and initiated a wide coverage on strategic management by Jack Ma.
A must read for any management grad.
A must read for any management grad.
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