Why would a CEO of a multimillion dollar company be forced to resign amid reports of a few thousand dollars scam that too when he himself isn’t involved in it. This is the question which every b2b marketer is asking in the aftermath of the resignation of Mr. Wei, CEO- Alibaba.com. The most uncomfortable whispers are this could just be an eyewash and there is much more than what meets the eye.
Wall Street Journal(WSJ) reported that alibaba.com CEO has resigned after an internal investigation found that more than 2,300 sellers registered on their site committed fraud, sometimes with the help of Alibaba sales staff.
B2B portals especially those who offer a marketplace to the buyers and sellers have always been susceptible to such malpractices, however, for the first time the internal staff of such a reputed portal has ever been caught involved.
Reports says that the company insists that the CEOs were not involved though they resigned in the wake of moral responsibility however the rumours of a different nature are going around the corners amidst the storm.
As more and more buyers and sellers are using b2b marketplace as their preferred way to carry out their business, the possibility of a repeat of such an instance can’t be ruled out. Industry analysts say as the number of transaction increases it becomes virtually impossible to track each and every of them, which leaves a certain room for error. However, what is pertinent for any company is that none of their employees should ever be involved in such a set-up, otherwise, their entire credibility goes for a toss.
B2B portal offer a wide array of services to the buyers and extra efforts are made to instil their confidence into dealing with the sellers listed. However, when the holy grail of trust is broken that’s when things begin to go helter-skelter within the industry.
Analysts insist that the volume of the fraud occurred was insignificant, however, the counter action taken to rectify it was huge. Skeptics wonder if the CEOs resigned to show that company will go to any length to bring back the confidence of the buyers or if there was something more to it. Something we will never ever be able to know, something which hints towards the beginning of the end of the alibaba’s bubble! Could it be another satyam in the making …? The questions are endless with no answer in sight.
Understandably, most of the b2b portals are tight lipped about the sudden developments and are concerned about the next update. Only time will tell if we have heard the last in the ongoing fiasco, or if there are more skeletons which could stumble out the closet !
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