Sustainability Condition of Open Innovation: Dynamic Growth of Alibaba from SME to Large Enterprise
1
Department of Open Innovation and Business Model, Open Innovation Academy of SOI, and DGIST, Daegu 42988, Korea
2
Department of Business Administration, Sangji University, Wonju 26339, Korea
3
Department of Environmental Planning and Management, Tsinghua University, Bejing 100084, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2020, 12(11), 4379; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114379
Received: 29 April 2020 / Revised: 18 May 2020 / Accepted: 20 May 2020 / Published: 27 May 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)
Research Question: Open innovation and the open business model exaggerate complexity (a transaction cost) in addition to the realization of emergence and its lock-in. Within a short period, Alibaba has become one of the global top e-commerce companies with several open innovation business models. Our research question was: “How could Alibaba become a global top e-commerce company in China in such a short time?” Research Method: We chose a deep interview method, participatory observation, and meta-analysis to answer this research question. Research Result: Alibaba has applied global, creative e-commerce business models through open innovation in a short time. In addition, it has overcome complexity—i.e., the cost of open innovation and the force that breaks down a company—through an open innovation-friendly culture. This is a “Jack-Ma style consumer confidence and new Guanxi culture”, a new and strong Chinese corporate culture. Alibaba has also undergone the expansion of its open business model feedback loop platform. This study investigated the expanded open business model feedback loop platform, the continuously strengthened open-innovation-friendly culture, and complexity, with the latter being the cost of open innovation, which was controlled by an open-innovation-friendly culture and open business model feedback loop.
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Keywords:
Alibaba; open innovation; complexity; open innovation culture; open business model feedback loop platform; sustainability
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MDPI and ACS Style
Yun, J.J.; Zhao, X.; Park, K.; Shi, L. Sustainability Condition of Open Innovation: Dynamic Growth of Alibaba from SME to Large Enterprise. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4379. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114379
AMA Style
Yun JJ, Zhao X, Park K, Shi L. Sustainability Condition of Open Innovation: Dynamic Growth of Alibaba from SME to Large Enterprise. Sustainability. 2020; 12(11):4379. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114379
Chicago/Turabian StyleYun, Jinhyo J., Xiaofei Zhao, KyungBae Park, and Lei Shi. 2020. "Sustainability Condition of Open Innovation: Dynamic Growth of Alibaba from SME to Large Enterprise" Sustainability 12, no. 11: 4379. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114379
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