阿里巴巴是美國小企業的天賜良機嗎

Chinese e-commerce colossus Alibaba finished its first blockbuster day trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday by making Jack Ma an $18 billion man. It also helped Yahoo score huge profits on its stake in the company and made Masayoshi Son Japan’s richest man. But the company’s impact will be felt far beyond making it investors wealthy.

中國電商巨頭阿里巴巴（Alibaba）在紐約股票交易所的上市轟動全球。在第一個交易日之後，馬雲的個人資產達到180億美元。大股東雅虎（Yahoo）也獲利巨大，孫正義成了日本首富。阿里巴巴讓它的投資者都獲得了豐厚的回報，但這家公司的影響遠不止於此。

So Fortune asked the question: How will Alibaba impact small businesses in the U.S.? Expert responses ranged from it being a “golden opportunity” to skepticism because of confusion by business owners about what exactly Alibaba does.

在這裏，《財富》雜誌想問一個問題：阿里巴巴將如何影響美國的小企業？業內專家的看法不一。有人說阿里巴巴爲小企業提供了“天賜良機”。也有人持懷疑態度，因爲企業主們還沒有搞清楚阿里巴巴確切的經營模式。

“At Alibaba, we fight for the little guy, the small businessmen and women and their customers,” CEO Jack Ma said in a video for potential investors earlier this month. In a regulatory filing, he wrote that “Our proposition is simple: we want to help small businesses grow by solving their problems through Internet technology.”

在本月初啓動的IPO路演視頻中，首席執行官馬雲表示：“我們阿里巴巴就是爲‘小人物’奮鬥，爲小企業主們和他們的客戶努力工作。”在提交的監管文件中，他寫道：“我們的設想非常簡單，就是通過互聯網技術解決小企業主們的問題，幫助他們成長。”

But is that actually the case? Michael Tudor, the CEO of Ripen eCommerce, a consulting firm for online retailers, believes so. He told Fortune that the company will help businesses “establish themselves in the Chinese market.”

事實確實如此嗎？爲在線零售商提供諮詢服務的Ripen eCommerce公司首席執行官邁克爾o都鐸認同這種說法。他在接受《財富》採訪時稱：阿里巴巴會有助於“企業開闢中國市場”。

The Alibaba Group contains four separate services, explained Tudor, each with different opportunities for small business owners looking to make gains in China. There’s Alipay, a PayPal-like business which provides an escrow service, unlike its U.S. counterpart. Then there’s TMall which resembles Amazon by letting retailers sell directly to consumers. Another arm, Taobao, is similar to eBay .

都鐸指出，阿里巴巴集團經營四種獨立類型的服務，每種服務都可以爲小企業分享中國市場的大蛋糕提供不同的機會。支付寶（Alipay）提供類似Paypal的支付服務，但其第三方託管功能是後者所沒有的。天貓商城（Tmall）類似於亞馬遜（Amazon），零售商可向客戶直接銷售。淘寶網（Taobao）則和eBay類似。

Finally, there’s , which describes itself as the world’s largest business-to-business wholesaler. With a whopping 7.3 million suppliers, including six million from China, there’s little room for debate.

最後，阿里巴巴網站自稱是全球最大規模的企業貿易（B2B）批發商。該網站擁有730萬家供應商，其中600萬家來自中國，這一稱號應該當之無愧。

Together, these services can help small business owners “who don’t have the resources to meet the challenges of the Chinese market,” according to Tudor. At the same time, the owners will need to figure out a way to ship the products “half way around the world” themselves, said Tudor.

都鐸指出，將這些服務融合起來，就可以爲那些“缺乏在中國市場競爭資源”的小企業提供幫助。他同時也提出，企業經營者需要考慮如何將產品“繞過半個地球”運到中國的問題。

Haydn Simpson, a product director at NetNames, a company that protects clients from online fraud, explained via email that that Alibaba’s potential reach into the U.S. is enormous. He pointed out that is the eleventh most visited site in the world, only three spots behind Amazon, according to online measurement firm Alexa.

海頓o辛普森是防網絡欺詐公司NetNames的產品總監，他在郵件中指出：阿里巴巴在美國的潛力無可限量。辛普森提到，根據Alexa的網站排名，淘寶網是全球訪問量排名在第11位的網站，僅比亞馬遜低三個位次。

“There is no reason why – using one of its existing platforms or setting up one specifically for the US market – Alibaba Group cannot achieve significant penetration in the U.S.,” Simpson said.

辛普森說：“無論是利用現有的任何一個平臺，還是針對美國市場建立一個專門的平臺，阿里巴巴都足以實現對美國市場的高度滲透——這一點無可置疑。”

But the various product may also be a double-edged sword for U.S. business owners. The different services could be confusing to them, especially as they try to wrap their heads around what Alibaba actually is. In fact, even investors appear to be confused, according to a recent Fortune article.

不過阿里不同的產品對於美國企業經營者來講可能是把雙刃劍。各種平臺不同的服務可能會帶來混淆，尤其他們正在絞盡腦汁試圖搞清楚阿里巴巴究竟是什麼。事實上，根據一篇最新的《財富》文章，就連投資者也對此有點迷惑。

Despite all the “fanfare, it’s still not a household name,” said KoshaGada, a principal in the media and retail practices of A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm. “There might be a little bit of brand confusion, and they’ll have to familiarize themselves.”

科爾尼（ney）是一家全球性的管理諮詢公司，其媒體及零售部門主管科沙o戈達說，阿里巴巴儘管“大張旗鼓，卻還算不上家喻戶曉。這可能會帶來一些品牌認知上的混亂，他們必須儘快讓人熟悉起來。”

Gada also said there may be a barrier for small business owners in the U.S. who want to appear patriotic and not sell to China or place orders on or .

戈達還表示，可能存在於美國部分小企業主中間的一個障礙是，爲了表現愛國主義而不向中國出售產品，也不從阿里巴巴或淘寶網上訂購商品。

Then, of course, there’s the flip side that Chinese companies can benefit from the company following its IPO, too.

當然另一方面，中國企業也可以從阿里巴巴的IPO中受益。

“The potential of increased competition with Chinese manufacturers is extremely real. Chinese manufactures enjoy cheaper labour and less stringent regulations, meaning that they can produce similar products to American companies for less,” Simpson said.

辛普森說道：“毫無疑問，美國與中國製造商之間的競爭將加劇。中國製造企業享有更加廉價的勞動力以及更寬鬆的監管，這意味着他們可以用較少的投入生產出和美國企業同樣的產品。”

People selling counterfeit goods through Chinese online marketplaces is another problem, he said. That’s bound to complicate matters further for small U.S. businesses and make them think twice about using Alibaba’s services.

他還指出，有人通過中國的電子商務市場銷售假冒商品是另一個需要考慮的問題。這將惡化美國小企業的擔憂，令他們對於使用阿里巴巴的服務更加三思而行。

For the moment, Tudor said that Amazon doesn’t need to worry quite yet about Alibaba’s TMall service. For the most part, it is focused on Chinese customers and not on conquering the U.S. market.

目前，都鐸認爲亞馬遜並不需要太過擔憂阿里巴巴的天貓商城。很大程度上，天貓還是聚焦於中國客戶，征服美國市場不是它的重點。

“They’re not immediately trying to compete with Amazon or come into the U.S.,” Tudor said.

“他們並沒有立即與亞馬遜展開競爭，也沒有進入美國市場，”都鐸表示。

So what should small business owners do to ensure they get the most out of Alibaba going forward? Educate themselves, according to the experts.

那麼美國的小型企業應該做些什麼，才能確保他們能夠最大限度地利用阿里巴巴發展？依專家所言，自我學習才能繼續成長。

“I think getting familiar with the Chinese market in general, and not even just Alibaba, but understanding a little bit more about their culture and what appeals to them,” Tudor said. “This is going to create other companies or other opportunities for Western retailers to get to China.”

“我想應該是熟悉整個中國市場，不僅僅只是阿里巴巴，而是理解中國的文化和吸引消費者的東西，”都鐸表示，“這將促使西方的零售商在中國建立其他的公司，或者爲進入中國市場帶來新的機會。”

Gada, from A.T. Kearney, also praised the company’s move saying “ultimately” it’s “a good thing” and that it will result in a “trickle down effect,” allowing U.S. small businesses the opportunity to grow overseas.

科爾尼的戈達還盛讚了阿里巴巴的舉動，指其“終究”是“好事”，可能帶來“涓滴效應”，讓美國的小企業能夠在海外擴大業務。

“The new entrance is going to challenge the Amazons of the world,” she added.

她補充道：“新進者將撼動亞馬遜的帝國。”