Alibaba’s Latest Global Initiative: Electronic World Trade Platforms
Alibaba, a china based group, launched its first overseas eWTP in Malaysia at the beginning of the month of November[1]. So what exactly is an eWTP? And of course, what is its significance to an economy?
An eWTP helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) and startups reap the benefits of globalization, which are already enjoyed by well-established firms/companies, thus levelling the playing field. An eWTP would accomplish this by providing the trained manpower and logistics needed for electronic commercial transactions,cloud computing, mobile payments, updates and maintenance.
The creation of an eWTP in any country would gradually increase competitivity, reduce prices, create more jobs and thus lower unemployment, and overtime increase the GDP of the country.
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The significance of eWTPs is highlighted by the explosive worldwide growth of e-commerce which has lead to the creation of new business models while ushering the failure of the old models. An eWTP has the potential to spark fundamental changes in the way international trade is conducted by lowering costs, reducing and streamlining intermediaries, improving access to information and financing, and shortening global supply chains[2].
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Furthermore, setting up eWTPs in developing countries would hopefully prepare their economies to avoid a retail apocalypse, caused by the failure of old business models, as witnessed in the US after the meteoric rise of ecommerce giant Amazon[3]. In fact based upon the success of the existing eWTPs, the eWTP initiative was accepted as a major policy recommendation of the Business 20 (B20) and officially included in the 2016 G20 Leaders’ Communique[1][2][3].
