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Alibaba To Train a Million Youngsters In E-commerce (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Alibaba has announced its plans to train a million teenagers and graduates living in rural areas of China to kick-start their own businesses. The Chinese e-commerce giant reached an agreement today with the China Communist Youth League to support the teenagers with funding, training and partnerships. The company's internet financing branch Ant Financial will set aside 1 billion yuan to invest in the training of recent college graduates who want to return to their home-towns and launch businesses.
...is supporting grass roots capitalism.
Somewhere in the afterlife she didn't believe in, Ayn Rand must be smiling...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
Why is there a need for people to do this work? How many online shops selling the same thing using images and advertising materials ripped off each other do we need? Call me cynical but this really just looks like party insiders finding yet another way to bleed millions out of a "plump pig" and the flow of money will mostly go into far fewer pockets than people imagine.
Alibaba is a company based on the concept of cheating the American devil of as much as they can. Now they are going to train 1,000,000 more Chinese in "E-commerce". What could go wrong?
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Actually a lot of the posters here should be rejoicing. In my experience Chinese youngsters in general are extremely good at selling stuff online, this could be a great boon for American companies/brands as export of American goods and good news for any other country as well. A lot of young Chinese today are engaged in selling to the ever growing Chinese middle class, and you might just find that export of your product might as well happen to small players as to a few big corporations that won't pay you more that nickel for your product making them the winners not you. Realize that Chinese youngsters and Chinese in general, no longer want copies, they want the real deal. So why don't you find those old worn jeans, or whatever product you can research your way to, is in demand over there and find yourself a collaboration partner and then start bringing in a new stream of revenue for yourself. The Chinese are hungry for interesting foreign goods, and no they do generally not use SPAM, I have never ever received a SPAM mail from a company pedding Chinese goods, in fact your fear of SPAM is unfounded if you look at the Chinese online marked and social media usage, you see they don't have to use SPAM, people scour over services like taobao, and use WeChat constantly looking for products they desire and if you have it you're more or less certainly going to sell it money is not a problem in China. Social media platforms such as WeChat from Tencent that have everything built in, from social networking to shopping modules and online payment processing systems and APPS are far superior in comparison to our traditional western social media / trade platforms. I think people should stop whimpering about the communist threat, that is so last century thinking and they really should start living in the present, please try to realize this is one world populated with people that more or less all have the same goal - A good prosperous life in peace! Start collaborating instead of bickering, seriously, I have spent a fair amount in China over the past few years and trust me if market forces are at work at the moment anywhere it is in China, and if you want to tap into the good life, now is your opportunity, that is if you can see through the smoke and mirrors. And that this hits the news is kind of interesting as the Chinese government despite contrary beliefs, actually encourages private entrepreneurs and have for years done so. In fact I wish the government where I live would ease restrictions on start-ups as they are in China tax wise, a trusted source non government affiliated business person explained that as a small timer i.e. personal entrepreneur, you don't even need to pay tax of anything till you hit something like a turnover of about 300000 Yuan (roughly 46-47000 US$ in todays value 2016-03-16) and they were free to even start multiple businesses if they were willing to lay down a deposit per business etc. So stop fearing the Chinese and start collaborating with them, you will find they are more like you than you possibly think. Grab this opportunity by the horns - It is a chance unlike any you've seen in many years - Seize the moment!
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It might just be useful, especially if oil/gas prices skyrocket making transportation of goods prohibitively expensive. Having stuff made locally/regionally can not just cut down on shipping, it can add to customization, although it is hard to beat economies of scale that we have now, but with advances in metal sintering, and machines that can sinter, then machine (additive/subtractive), it may be cheaper just to make specialty parts nearby.
I wouldn't scoff at China. During 2008, when the economy tanked, they put money into infrastructure and laying fiber... not "shovel ready" projects and crushing perfectly working cars. This has paid off in spades for them, and will do so for the long term.
How many online shops selling the same thing using images and advertising materials ripped off each other do we need?
The Chinese do the same thing in the off-line world. It is common to see an entire street of tiny shops, all selling the exact same merchandise. Since the shops are tiny, they can only offer a very limited selection. Since the neighboring shops are all selling the exact same selection, they can only compete on price, so they are all selling for a few cents over their cost, and making almost no profit.
Of course it would make sense for them to consolidate into a single large shop, with higher prices and much better selection, benefiting themselves as well as their customers. But they can't do that, because they don't trust each other. Chinese businesses seldom grow beyond hiring family members, and with the one-child-policy, that means they stay very small.