Tomorrow, Alibaba Group – the $200 billion online marketplace that has been dominating China and most of Asia for the last 15 years – will deliver what has been described as "perhaps one of the largest IPOs in history."
If it works out and American consumers suddenly flock en mass to Alibaba next year, U.S. manufacturers and retailers are either going to have to build their own logistics network overnight or find third party logistics providers to do it for them.
Either way, it means new expenses, new directions and new systems. It's a million new headaches for a million manufacturers.
That's what we'll be watching with the IPO and into 2015 with the big Alibaba reveal: if Alibaba is going to change everything, everyone needs to start changing soon.
Alibaba’s IPO is scheduled to take place tomorrow, September 19th. We will be hosting a stock ticker widget on our home page so you can keep an eye out on the financials. Jack Ma is looking for a full market buzz. Let’s see if he gets it.
Read more about Alibaba on IndustryWeek, a companion site of MH&L and part of Penton’s Manufacturing and Supply Chain Group.
