Alibaba's IPO to end US dominance in technology sector: expert

LONDON - Alibaba's IPO could well be the end of US dominance in the world technology sector, a professor from a Britain's business school told Xinhua on Thursday.

"Alibaba's annual growth rate of more than 30 percent shows that the gap between the Chinese companies, Alibaba and Tencent, and US companies is getting ever closer," said Qing Wang, professor from Warwick Business School, one of the most prestigious and highly selective business schools in the world.

"The ability to understand customers intimately and continuously innovate should enable them to expand overseas with US dominance in the world technology sector gradually being broken, " said professor Wang.

The strong performance and fast rise of the Chinese technology companies in the world was helped by an enormous and fast growing domestic market, she said. The competition in that domestic market among the Chinese companies, as well as with multinational corporations that have entered it, was extremely fierce and successful private companies like Alibaba had to be highly entrepreneurial and market-oriented, she added.

Professor Wang didn't see major risks for Alibaba after IPO, as this was not the first Chinese company who has done this and the earlier ones such as Tencent are doing well after their IPO.

But she warned that what Alibaba might need to watch out for is the short term orientation of the stock market, the expectation and pressure to deliver quick results, which may clash with his business philosophy.

She also warned risks for the shareholders, because Alibaba is a rapid growing Chinese private enterprise with a short history of 15 years. "Its corporate governance needs to be improved upon and the decision process needs more transparency and accountability for the stakeholders," she said.

It was reported that the shares were expected to be priced after the markets close at 4 pm Thursday and start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday under the ticker "BABA."

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