As the founder of one of the world's thriving e-commerce companies, Alibaba's Jack Ma may find himself in the middle of tough decisions once in a while. But back when his e-commerce empire was still struggling, Ma faced what could probably be one of his early tests as the big boss: firing two of his best salespeople.
According to a report by Tech in Asia, Alibaba was struggling to make ends meet as a loss-making company in 2002 and had to set a target of $1 in profit.
"[Alibaba] would die if the goal wasn't achieved," Tech in Asia wrote.
To reach its goal, the company had to offer Web design services and faced the unethical but enticing option of offering bribes just to sign customers.
"We understood that if we offered bribes, we could survive. But if we didn't, our company would likely die," Ma was quoted as saying at a symposium in Singapore by Tech in Asia.
"We met until 4 p.m. and finally decided: we will never offer bribes. We would rather close down the company than operate without integrity," Ma said.
The plan worked and the company's target was achieved.
However, in its annual financial review, Alibaba discovered that two of its employees accounted for 60 percent of total sales. After an investigation, it was concluded that the two were responsible for bribing clients.
It was at this point that Ma had to face the tough decision of whether to axe his best-performing salespeople or not.
"If we fire them immediately, the company will not have profit. If we do not kick these two employees out, then what does this signify about us? It would imply that our words are empty," the Chinese billionaire said.
"So we finally decided to let these two employees go."
The group faced a bumpy road on its early years, but Ma stressed that it was integrity that kept the company going.
"When Alibaba was founded, we were in a very difficult situation. We had nothing. Nobody believed in what we did. Everyone said we were lunatics or cheats," Ma recalled.
Since then, the no-bribe policy has been incorporated in Alibaba's culture. Employees are also prohibited from receiving kickbacks from clients.