Can innovations come from China? Some influential people don’t think so. Today, of course, Alibaba is the Chinese innovator that clearly stands out. This paper argues that Alibaba’s impressive rise as a leading innovator on the world stage was driven in no small way by the institutional voids that challenge other firms in the same business environment. Alibaba not only thrived in an institutional void, it was a filler of institutional voids. Alibaba’s .....more