How Strategy Works in an Interconnected, Automated World

Leaders already know that the classic approach to strategy--analyze, plan, execute--is losing relevance. But they don't yet know what replaces it. As everyone and everything becomes more interconnected and digitized, how do you operate, compete, and win?

Ming Zeng, the former Chief of Staff and strategy adviser to Alibaba Group's founder Jack Ma, explains how the latest technological developments, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, the mobile internet, and cloud computing are redefining how value is created. Written especially for those outside the technology industry or the startup arena, this book introduces a simple, overarching framework to guide strategy formulation and execution in this data-rich and highly interactive environment.

Revealing the revolutionary practices that he and his team have developed at Alibaba, Zeng shows how to:

Automate decisions through machine learning

Create products informed by real-time data from customers

Determine the right strategic positioning to maximize value from platforms and suppliers

Repurpose your organization to further human insight and enable creativity

Lead your company's transformation into a smart business

With insights into the strategies and tools used by leaders at Alibaba and other companies such as Ruhan and Red Collar, in a variety of industries from furniture making to banking to custom tailoring, Smart Business outlines a radically new approach to strategy that can be applied everywhere.

Ming Zeng is the chief strategy officer at the Alibaba Group. Previously, he was a professor of strategy at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business from 2002 to 2006 and at INSEAD prior to 2002. He wrote one of the first cases on Alibaba in 2000. His book, Dragons at Your Door, coauthored with Peter Williamson and published by Harvard Business Review Press, remains one of the moste cited books about strategies of leading Chinese companies. He is a frequent contributor to management journals, and he speaks regularly at conferences and seminars around the world.