Alibaba has a diverse business operation; its major business operations are categorized

into marketplaces that cater to different segments of the market. Chinese Retail Marketplace
includes Taobao, Tmall, Rural Taobao; Cross boarder and Global Marketplace - AliExpress,
Tmall Global, Lazada; and at a larger scale 1688.com (China) and Alibaba.com (globally) ;
furthermore, Alibaba also has operations in the entertainment and digital media industry; as well
as the Finance with Ant Finance and MYbank; additionally, Logistics and Cloud computing with
Cainiao Network and Alibaba Cloud. 
Alibaba’s diversified operation has given the company the advantage of gathered data in
several areas of the business operation, with the use of ‘live data’ Alibaba has been able to
automate the decision-making process. The data gathered is not only quantitative but also
qualitative data such as changes in market conditions and customer preferences. This gives
Alibaba a competitive edge as the information gather is more accurate and time efficient,
thereby, giving a head start to plan and improvise on their services according to the changing
market trends. The expansion of the ecosystem has enabled

Alibaba has singlehandedly been able to perform jobs of several reputed internet
companies, which include Amazon, Google and Facebook. With the new capabilities in network
coordination and data intelligence and the use of machine learning technology, Alibaba has been
able to efficiently leverage data in real time (……). These machine learning is more than
generating technological innovation, the business has been transformed in a way that human
decision making is replaced with algorithmic output. A fine example is the algorithmic used in
Ant finance, where transaction data are gathered on the business performance of borrowers,
credit ratings of partners, and so on. This analysis is automatically done on borrowers and their
behavioral data in real time and these accurate predictions have been able to guarantee that Ant’s
risk and costs of lending has decreased over time. Furthermore, with the software resource,
Alibaba launched ‘Taobao’ where sellers introduce and negotiate with customers through instant
messaging called WangWang. The resources available to Taobao are not only beneficial to the
company but has been shared with their users, the development of software has enabled sellers to
design and launch sophisticated shop fronts, offer coupons, discounts and loyalty programs and
many more. These unique features attracted and retained many sellers and buyers. Hence,
becoming China’s dominant e-commerce website.
 Toyota can use Alibaba as an example when instilling “Smart” into their traditional
model. Toyota could use a machine learning algorithm. Incorporation of a wide range of data
would enable them to cater to different segments, meet customer desires, advance features and
swiftly customize vehicles to consumer preferences and affordability like Taobao.