Not content with telling the powerful State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) how to do its job, Alibaba's communications are now telling journalists how to write their reports. Readers will be aware that Alibaba is involved in a very public spat with SAIC after the e-commerce giant fared badly compared to its rivals in a survey on online commerce.
Only 37 per cent of Alibaba's products were found to be up to standard compared with 90 per cent among some of its rivals. This prompted Alibaba to query the survey's methodology and it threw in a few insults for good measure. Evidently stung, SAIC fired the other barrel, so to speak, and published a highly critical report in which it accuses Alibaba of being "arrogant" and "narcissistic" while "undergoing the biggest test of its credibility since its establishment". Alibaba has filed a complaint against the department for what it believes are unsound procedures.
Unsurprisingly, all this has attracted the interest of journalists. One of our colleagues who was in touch with Alibaba's corporate communications team over a feature he was writing found himself at the receiving end of instructions from one of the senior communications staff.
"Our vice-chairman Joe Tsai, will be speaking on this SAIC situation tonight at 8.30pm during our earnings conference call. Before you write a story alleging reputational damage to Alibaba, it's best you hear from the horse's mouth directly. Interviewing a few experts who give a similar opinion does not necessarily make that opinion true and correct. Please take a considered view of this fast-moving situation and wait to include Joe's comments from the call."
Sounds like SAIC had a point about Alibaba's "arrogance".