Alibaba founder Jack Ma (left) will hand over the group chairmanship to current CEO Zhang Yong (right) in a year.(Reuters)

Zhang Yong, CEO of Alibaba Group, will take over Jack Ma's chairmanship from September 10 next year.The analysis pointed out that Jack Ma's move provides new ideas worth learning for Chinese private enterprises that lack a mature inheritance system.

Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, announced yesterday (September 10) that he will step down as chairman of the board of directors from September 10 next year and be replaced by Zhang Yong, the current CEO of the group.

Ma Yun, who was still in his prime, retired bravely when his career was popular, which aroused heated discussions from all walks of life.Some analysts pointed out that Jack Ma's move demonstrated the inheritance of textbook-level enterprises, and provided new ideas worth learning for Chinese private enterprises that lack a mature inheritance system.

The 54-year-old Jack Ma issued an open letter yesterday, officially responding to the rumors of Jack Ma's retirement that continued to ferment over the past weekend, and said that stepping down as chairman of the board of directors is a plan that has been carefully thought out and carefully prepared for 10 years.

He will fully cooperate with Zhang Yong in the coming year to prepare for the handover.After retiring, Ma Yun will continue to serve as a member of the group's board of directors until the 2020 general meeting of shareholders, and he will continue to be a partner of Alibaba.

The 46-year-old Zhang Yong joined Alibaba in 2007 as the chief financial officer of Taobao, became the chief operating officer of Alibaba in 2013, and was promoted to CEO in 2015.He created and led the Tmall Double 11 Shopping Festival, making it a world-renowned e-commerce event.

Regarding future arrangements, Ma Yun said: I want to return to education and do what I love, which will make me extremely excited and happy.As a teacher, he has mentioned on many occasions that teaching is his favorite profession.

Jack Ma founded Alibaba in 1999 and led this Internet company from scratch to grow into an Internet giant with a current market value of more than US$400 billion (approximately S$551 billion).

Alibaba's talent echelon system solves the problem of leadership succession

The soul of Alibaba has emphasized the importance of the system several times in the open letter, and said that his handover marks the completion of Alibaba's corporate system upgrade from relying on personal characteristics to relying on organizational mechanisms and talent culture.He also said: Only by establishing a system, forming a unique culture, and cultivating and training a successor system for a large number of talents can we solve the problem of enterprise inheritance and development.

The development of the company is closely tied to the founder, and the lack of institutionalized inheritance is a common challenge faced by Chinese private enterprises.The leaders of many well-known private enterprises in China, including Ren Zhengfei of Huawei, Zong Qinghou of Wahaha, and Liu Chuanzhi of Lenovo, are all over 70 years old and still lead the company.It is also very common to pass the reins to children instead of professional managers, such as Liu Yonghao of New Hope and Yang Guoqiang of Country Garden.

Tang Yuejun, associate professor of the Department of Business Administration at Fudan University School of Management, pointed out to Lianhe Zaobao that in addition to being influenced by traditional concepts, China's market mechanism and legal system are not perfect, resulting in a lack of moral integrity. Many Chinese private entrepreneurs dare not hand over their businesses to professional managers.

Under such a macro-environment, there is no way to build trust... Entrepreneurs will feel most at ease with their children, because there is a natural blood relationship.Tang Yuejun also pointed out that many first-generation entrepreneurs rely on opportunities and courage to start businesses, lack the ideas and ability to reform and innovate the governance system, and do not understand standardized business operations, so they tend to neglect the establishment of a corporate inheritance system.

In contrast, Alibaba has established a series of talent echelon systems such as the partnership system, class committee system, and political committee system to solve problems such as leadership succession and future responsibility. Jack Ma himself handed over the CEO in 2013., It also made a long-term pavement for gradually moving behind the stage.

Cultivate backup to avoid inheritance risks

Some analysts also pointed out that the decentralization of power and the cultivation of reserve talents also allow Alibaba to avoid the risk of key figures, and avoid letting the fate of the company be kidnapped by the soul, like JD.com, another Chinese e-commerce giant.

The founder of JD.com, Liu Qiangdong, owns nearly 80% of the company's shares and has a firm grasp of the company's decision-making. However, JD.com's stock has plummeted recently due to his alleged sexual assault in the United States.

Ke Bin, dean and chair professor of the National University of Singapore Business School, pointed out in an interview: When the company is small, it is not a big problem for one person to make decisions; once the company grows, the risk is very high.He believes that the short-term impact of Ma Yun's resignation is hard to say, after all, the group needs too much time, but in the long run, this will have positive significance for the development of the enterprise.

Alibaba's long-term system construction has made the entire team stable, and it can be seen that this company is no longer Ma Yun's business alone...the sooner this kind of inheritance, the better, and it will also help the people below to let go of their hands and feet better, to get more opportunities.

Although Alibaba concept stocks fell yesterday, analysts believe that even if Ma Yun does not serve as the chairman of the board of directors, his influence on the group is still there.Tang Yuejun pointed out that although Jack Ma has withdrawn from the company's management level, he has always been a lifelong partner of Alibaba, which means that he can still play an active role in corporate governance.

(The reporter is the Shanghai correspondent of Lianhe Zaobao)