Vision - Alibaba

10 Annual Report 2007
Chairman’s
Statement
“
Customer
Alibaba.com was founded in 1999 and it is our vision to sustain and grow
our company for 102 years. Based on this vision, we were only eight years
old when we became a public company in 2007. Our mission in these 102
years is: to make it easy for our users to do business anywhere. We are
First
The interests of our
community of users
devoted to serving small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We have and paying members
so far only walked through eight short years; we are now listed and our always remain our
mission will not change.
fi rst priority.
”
Dear Alibaba.com shareholder,
We aim to become a provider of e-commerce infrastructure for SMEs in
China and Asia and, by using Alibaba.com’s e-commerce platform, to
create a global manufacturing, trading and servicing ecosystem within 10
years. We will embrace opportunities and challenges with an open mind
and share prosperity together with our users.
The world economy and trading environment will not always remain
bright. Every downturn in the market, while likely posing real
challenges to larger enterprises, will create opportunities for SMEs.
During the SARS epidemic in 2003, a large number of SMEs used
e-commerce to conduct their business and not only managed to
survive the diffi cult times but secured new business opportunities
that had been previously dominated by big companies.
Recently, I participated in the World Economic Forum
in Davos and the APEC Business Advisory Council
(ABAC). I observed that: in Davos, the leaders of
multinational corporations were very concerned
about the world economic outlook and the forecast
of a potential economic downturn, while in the
ABAC meeting, participants were in contrast upbeat
about the opportunities that SMEs may leverage
on. Regardless of changes in the market, we
will uphold our mission to serve SMEs in all
circumstances.
Jack MA
Chairman