Yesterday (24 Jan), it was announced that James Dong, CEO of Lazada, will take over as the Acting CEO of Daraz, the South Asia-ex-India-focused ecommerce platform under the Alibaba International Digital Commerce group (AIDC), with immediate effect. This announcement follows weeks of speculations regarding a leadership change at Daraz, and also comes a few weeks after Lazada’s recent major layoffs, which included several members of its leadership team.

 

But why did Daraz replace its CEO with Lazada’s CEO? Is this part of Alibaba’s restructuring efforts to simplify the organisation of both companies?

 

Tune in as we discuss the complexities faced by Lazada and Daraz, the motivation and challenges of Alibaba's ongoing organisational restructuring, and the need for agility in the evolving competitive ecommerce landscape. 

 

Featured materials: 

Lazada CEO takes over Daraz, what next?, TheLowDown

Interview with COO: How to run ecommerce in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh (all at once), The Impulso Podcast

With big layoffs, Lazada is digging in, TheLowDown

What’s behind Lazada Layoffs, The Impulso Podcast

Lazada layoffs: lessons from history and Jack Ma, The Impulso Podcast

[Seeing the unseen] Our thoughts on Alibaba’s major restructuring, TheLowDown

Transforming Alibaba: Understanding Alibaba’s most radical changes in history, Momentum Works

Why does Alibaba replace Taobao CEO?, The Impulso Podcast