E51: Lazada layoffs: lessons from history and Jack Ma

"The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has always been."  The opening line from the 14th-century Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms above probably resonates well with the considerations behind the recent Lazada layoffs.   The line, which described ancient empires, is applicable to large companies with complex operations - such as Lazada. Certain circumstances may require minimum division of responsibilities or decision making, but after a while such structure will grow rigid, and circumstances will change, causing the pendulum to swing towards centralisation.    In the dynamic ecommerce landscape, the pendulum inevitably oscillates between centralisation and decentralisation - organisations need to be agile to navigate these shifts.   Yet, this shift comes with its set of challenges - in this situation, it is having to lay off employees.   In this latest episode, we dissect the additional details of the Lazada layoffs and hopefully provide an optimistic outlook about 2024 for everyone.    Featured materials:What’s behind Lazada layoffs, The Impulso PodcastHow strong is Pinduoduo’s execution?, TheLowDown Why is Pinduoduo’s execution so strong?, TheLowDown With big layoffs, Lazada is digging in, TheLowDown Seeing the Unseen, Behind Chinese Tech Giants' Global Venturing, Guoli Chen and Jianggan Li How Jack Ma handles big layoffs?, TheLowDown