An interview of Alibaba CEO Jack Ma by Nikkei Business

-Translated from Nikkei Business

(Nov. 25, 2002, Page 190)

Nov 25, 2002 - Two years ago, before my first trip to Japan, I had a very good impression of Japanese companies and business individuals. Japanese people are hard working, very polite and they tend to make everything perfect.

However, my Japan trip surprised me. Japanese companies often spend too much time on trivial things and miss the right time to make decisions. I respect perfection. However, in such a modern society where speed determines everything, protracted decision-making process is lethal to the survival of a company.

Another thing that surprised me is that most Japanese entrepreneurs are older people. I am 38 and a majority of Chinese entrepreneurs are between 30-45. But the leaders of Japanese companies usually are above 60. Generally speaking, older people tend not to do two things: 1) things they never did before; 2) try something they never succeeded again. However, change brings life. To be constrained by past experience is not a wise attitude.

But this is not to say that I am losing confidence in Japan. On the contrary, I have more and more confidence in this country. I have visited Japan many times in the past two years. Each time left me a better impression due to the high quality products and services I found in Japan.

Recently I had a trip to Osaka, the punctual operation of the railway systems, the comfort provided by hotels, the fine packaging of local specialties all give me surprises from time to time. Japanese people always say that they are lacking of creativity. However, it is their modesty. In my eyes, this is a country full of innovation. The high quality products and services offered in Japan are rarely seen in other parts of the world.

Though Chinese people make decisions faster than Japanese, China is still a developing country. We neither attach enough importance to high quality products nor have rich experience of innovation. It may be a good idea to arrange Alibaba employees to receive trainings in Japan, thus enhancing their understanding of high quality products and services.

Supposing Japanese companies could have a good combination of high-quality orientation and fast decision-making process, it is not impossible for its economy to recover. Of course it is easy said than done. To maintain a sustainable growth of China's economy, we Chinese face a challenging job of improving the quality of our products and services. We are trying to fulfill this goal. Japanese has no excuse to say that they can't make it.

When I talk with Japanese young people, everyone tells me that Japan needs a reform, but it is difficult to implement. In fact, if everybody has realized the importance of reform, it signals that it is the right time to do it. The key word is "action". For example, before water is boiling, we hardly see any changes inside. Only when it gets 100 degrees centigrade will it boil. We might say the current "temperature" of Japan is between 98-99 degrees centigrade. When it hits its boiling point, the changes will take place and burst out.

The key point of leading a country to its boiling point is "let the young take place of the old". Older people like to show their experience to young people. For more than ten years, my father has been telling me that I should do what I am asked to do. He knows little of the Internet. If I listened to him, I think I would never be myself today.

I'd like to tell young business people in Japan that it is their mission to recover Japan's economy. To be innovative, we should first challenge the textbooks. Living in such a new era as ours, we must think and act independently.