Customers should be number 1, Employees number 2, and then only your Shareholders come at number 3.
Interpretation
Prioritizing customers and employees is crucial for a successful business.
This quote by Jack Ma emphasizes the importance of putting customers first, followed by employees, before considering shareholders. The idea is that by focusing on customer satisfaction and employee well-being, a company can build a strong foundation for long-term success, ultimately benefiting shareholders as a result.
In practice
Use this quote in a business seminar to highlight the importance of customer and employee satisfaction.
Hong Kong people say Hong Kong needs to preserve its uniqueness. I say Hong Kong's uniqueness is in its diversity, its tolerance of difference cultures... China does not want to see Hong Kong in decline. I have full confidence in its future.
If we are a good team and know what we want to do, one of us can defeat tons of them.
It's not that other countries steal jobs from you guys. It's your strategy. Distribute the money and things in a proper way.
Helping doing business easier, we choose the name Alibaba because it is a global company. It is founded in China, but it was created for the world.
In the beginning I just wanted to survive. For the first three years, we made zero revenue. I remember many times when I was trying to pay up, the restaurant owner would say, 'Your bill was paid.' And there would be a note saying, 'Mr. Ma, I'm your customer on the Alibaba platform. I made a lot of money, and I know you don't, so I paid the bill.'
Even if your competitor is still small in size or weak, you should take him seriously and treat him as a giant. Likewise, even if your competitor is massive in size, you shouldn't regard yourself as a weakling.
In the long run managements stressing accounting appearance over economic substance usually achieve little of either.
Many businesses with unpopular products or inefficient production find it much easier to curry the favor of a few influential politicians or a government agency than to compete in the open market.
Business isn't some disembodied bloodless enterprise. Profit is fine - a sign that the customer honors the value of what we do. But "enterprise" ( a lovely word ) is about heart. About beauty. It's about art. About people throwing themselves on the line. It's about passion and the selfless pursuit of an ideal.
Business plans are the tool existing companies use for execution. They are the wrong tool to search for a business model.
There is a huge body of business evidence now showing that energy savings give better service at lower cost with higher profit. We have to tear down barriers to successful markets and we have to create incentives to enter them.
Banking is very good business if you don't do anything dumb.
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