E-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group announced recently that its main founder Jack Ma will step down from his post as chairman of the board on September 10, 2019, when current CEO Daniel Zhang will take over. The news has put leadership transitions at large private companies in the spotlight, said the Shanghai-based news portal The Paper in an editorial.
China’s large private businesses, including Alibaba, were mostly founded in the 1980s or 90s, so many are still led by the original founder, some of whom have become almost a spiritual leader to their companies. But the reality is that the founders cannot be around forever, so it is critical that private businesses can shake off this reliance on their founders.
Also noteworthy is that with changes in industrial structures, markets and global competition, corporate development requires founders to delegate or pass some of their power to more capable hands, the editorial said.
Founders of private businesses need to make prior arrangements, turning their companies’ capacities for innovation and evolution into organizational capacities, it argued. It is important to give play to the role of professional managers and integrate the style of the founders into the corporate culture and organization.
In recent years, Jack Ma has worked to build a comprehensive corporate culture and value system to underpin Alibaba's development. That is why the retirement announcement comes with minimum impact on the company, the editorial noted.
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