Alibaba Group is one of the global leaders in the sphere of e-commerce that is oriented to the development of new business-to-business and business-to-customer platforms. As a result, the operations management of the organization serves to address the strategic goals while controlling existing operations processes, and it is aligned with the integration of new quality management systems to support the implementation of new products and services (Nickels, McHugh, & McHugh, 2013).
Alibaba Group remains to be one of the actively developing e-commerce in the world because of the effective operations strategy, and it is important to discuss the roles of functional stakeholders and teams in the company, the focus on a principle of the functional diversity, and the alignment of the operations management, diversity, and quality management in detail.
Functional Internal Stakeholders and Cross-Functional Teams
It is important to describe the roles of such functional stakeholders in Alibaba Group as Benny Chan, Senior Marketing Manager, Moa Yao, Product Manager, and Teddy Lui, Operations Director (Alibaba Group, 2016). In spite of the fact that areas of functions and responsibilities of these persons are different, they work to improve the operations management in the company and contribute to the development and implementation of the innovative products and services in order to address the customers and partners’ needs. In this context, the focus on the effective marketing strategy, development of the product and services features, and the management of operations to achieve the strategic goal is important.
The key cross-functional team that works in the company includes Moa Yao, Product Manager, and a group of designers, IT specialists, programmers, and marketers who work on launching new projects and online platforms for Alibaba Group worldwide (Alibaba Group, 2016). When a new project starts, the number of members of the cross-functional team can increase, and new persons having the expertise in the certain area of knowledge are invited to join the team. This approach contributes to more focused and professional work of the team based on the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and skills to meet the strategic goal.
The Impact on Diversity
The cooperation of key functional stakeholders and the work f cross-functional teams has the positive effect on diversity and exchange of opinions. Product managers focus on setting a goal and tasks for developing a new service or product for Alibaba Group. On the contrary, the actual process and operations necessary for completing the task are discussed and solved by the members of the cross-functional team. The task is analyzed by the team members in relation to details of its realization. The diverse perspectives on the product or service features, capacities, and resources of the company, and the potential attractiveness for the target audience are discussed, and these issues can be successfully resolved because professionals in different spheres participate in the cross-functional team (Majchrzak, More, & Faraj, 2012; Spring & Araujo, 2014).
Moreover, in Alibaba Group, cross-functional teams also include representatives of different cultures and communities who work to promote the international sector of the business, and this fact also contributes to supporting the functional diversity in the company.
Operations Strategy and Quality Management, Diversity, and Operations Activities
In Alibaba Group, the operations strategy provides guidelines and goals for managers to follow in order to guarantee the effective planning and organization of operations activities. Moreover, the operations strategy dictates the criteria for the adoption of a new quality management system. Alibaba Group used several quality management systems during different periods of its development, and the choice of the system is based on the activities performed at the concrete stage of the organizational progress (Alibaba Group, 2016; Pangarkar & Kirkwood, 2008). Thus, operations activities tend to support the strategy used in Alibaba Group.
This aspect is important because, according to Prajogo and McDermott (2008), leaders need to “develop each operations activity as a deployment of strategy rather than simply daily operations” (p. 515).
The relationship between activities assessed according to the certain quality management system and the operations strategy is important to achieve the strategic goals. In this context, the focus on the functional diversity is also significant as the successful work of the cross-functional team means that it communicates the issues efficiently and proposes relevant decisions regarding operations to address the strategic goals and quality requirements. According to Marchand and Hykes (2009), successful global companies “share a common language and information for understanding and controlling operations” (p. 3). The effective alignment between these processes leads to preserving the high market position and increasing competitiveness.
Conclusion
Alibaba Group successfully realizes the operations strategy and refers to the support of cross-functional groups and initiatives in the field of the operations and quality management. The employees have the opportunity to share their ideas and opinions openly while working as a team, and this practice leads to improving the operations necessary for the completion of the concrete task. From this point, the company successfully realizes the principle of the cross-functional diversity in the context of operations strategy.
References
Alibaba Group. (2016). Governance.
Majchrzak, A., More, P. H., & Faraj, S. (2012). Transcending knowledge differences in cross-functional teams. Organization Science, 23(4), 951-970.
Marchand, D., & Hykes, A. (2009). Using information to create value efficiently. Perspectives for Managers, 1(179), 1-4.
Nickels, W. G., McHugh, J. M., & McHugh, S. M. (2013). Understanding business. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Pangarkar, A. J., & Kirkwood, T. (2008). Strategic alignment: Linking your learning strategy to the balanced scorecard. Industrial and Commercial Training, Guilsborough, 40(2), 95-101.
Prajogo, D. I., & McDermott, C. M. (2008). The relationships between operations strategies and operations activities in service context. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 19(4), 506-520.
Spring, M., & Araujo, L. (2014). Indirect capabilities and complex performance: Implications for procurement and operations strategy. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 34(2), 150-173.