????中國電商巨頭阿里巴巴（Alibaba）在紐約股票交易所的上市轟動(dòng)全球。在第一個(gè)交易日之后，馬云的個(gè)人資產(chǎn)達(dá)到180億美元。大股東雅虎（Yahoo）也獲利巨大，孫正義成了日本首富。阿里巴巴讓它的投資者都獲得了豐厚的回報(bào)，但這家公司的影響遠(yuǎn)不止于此。

????在這里，《財(cái)富》雜志想問一個(gè)問題：阿里巴巴將如何影響美國的小企業(yè)？業(yè)內(nèi)專家的看法不一。有人說阿里巴巴為小企業(yè)提供了“天賜良機(jī)”。也有人持懷疑態(tài)度，因?yàn)槠髽I(yè)主們還沒有搞清楚阿里巴巴確切的經(jīng)營模式。

????在本月初啟動(dòng)的IPO路演視頻中，首席執(zhí)行官馬云表示：“我們阿里巴巴就是為‘小人物’奮斗，為小企業(yè)主們和他們的客戶努力工作。”在提交的監(jiān)管文件中，他寫道：“我們的設(shè)想非常簡單，就是通過互聯(lián)網(wǎng)技術(shù)解決小企業(yè)主們的問題，幫助他們成長。”

????事實(shí)確實(shí)如此嗎？為在線零售商提供咨詢服務(wù)的Ripen eCommerce公司首席執(zhí)行官邁克爾?都鐸認(rèn)同這種說法。他在接受《財(cái)富》采訪時(shí)稱：阿里巴巴會(huì)有助于“企業(yè)開辟中國市場”。

????都鐸指出，阿里巴巴集團(tuán)經(jīng)營四種獨(dú)立類型的服務(wù)，每種服務(wù)都可以為小企業(yè)分享中國市場的大蛋糕提供不同的機(jī)會(huì)。支付寶（Alipay）提供類似Paypal的支付服務(wù)，但其第三方托管功能是后者所沒有的。天貓商城（Tmall）類似于亞馬遜（Amazon），零售商可向客戶直接銷售。淘寶網(wǎng)（Taobao）則和eBay類似。

????最后，阿里巴巴網(wǎng)站Alibaba.com自稱是全球最大規(guī)模的企業(yè)貿(mào)易（B2B）批發(fā)商。該網(wǎng)站擁有730萬家供應(yīng)商，其中600萬家來自中國，這一稱號應(yīng)該當(dāng)之無愧。

????都鐸指出，將這些服務(wù)融合起來，就可以為那些“缺乏在中國市場競爭資源”的小企業(yè)提供幫助。他同時(shí)也提出，企業(yè)經(jīng)營者需要考慮如何將產(chǎn)品“繞過半個(gè)地球”運(yùn)到中國的問題。

????海頓?辛普森是防網(wǎng)絡(luò)欺詐公司NetNames的產(chǎn)品總監(jiān)，他在郵件中指出：阿里巴巴在美國的潛力無可限量。辛普森提到，根據(jù)Alexa的網(wǎng)站排名，淘寶網(wǎng)是全球訪問量排名在第11位的網(wǎng)站，僅比亞馬遜低三個(gè)位次。

????辛普森說：“無論是利用現(xiàn)有的任何一個(gè)平臺(tái)，還是針對美國市場建立一個(gè)專門的平臺(tái)，阿里巴巴都足以實(shí)現(xiàn)對美國市場的高度滲透——這一點(diǎn)無可置疑。”

????不過阿里不同的產(chǎn)品對于美國企業(yè)經(jīng)營者來講可能是把雙刃劍。各種平臺(tái)不同的服務(wù)可能會(huì)帶來混淆，尤其他們正在絞盡腦汁試圖搞清楚阿里巴巴究竟是什么。事實(shí)上，根據(jù)一篇最新的《財(cái)富》文章，就連投資者也對此有點(diǎn)迷惑。

????科爾尼（A.T.Kearney）是一家全球性的管理咨詢公司，其媒體及零售部門主管科沙?戈達(dá)說，阿里巴巴盡管“大張旗鼓，卻還算不上家喻戶曉。這可能會(huì)帶來一些品牌認(rèn)知上的混亂，他們必須盡快讓人熟悉起來。”

????戈達(dá)還表示，可能存在于美國部分小企業(yè)主中間的一個(gè)障礙是，為了表現(xiàn)愛國主義而不向中國出售產(chǎn)品，也不從阿里巴巴或淘寶網(wǎng)上訂購商品。

????Chinese e-commerce colossus Alibaba finished its first blockbuster day trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday by making Jack Ma an $18 billion man. It also helped Yahoo score huge profits on its stake in the company and made Masayoshi Son Japan’s richest man. But the company’s impact will be felt far beyond making it investors wealthy.

????So Fortune asked the question: How will Alibaba impact small businesses in the U.S.? Expert responses ranged from it being a “golden opportunity” to skepticism because of confusion by business owners about what exactly Alibaba does.

????“At Alibaba, we fight for the little guy, the small businessmen and women and their customers,” CEO Jack Ma said in a video for potential investors earlier this month. In a regulatory filing, he wrote that “Our proposition is simple: we want to help small businesses grow by solving their problems through Internet technology.”

????But is that actually the case? Michael Tudor, the CEO of Ripen eCommerce, a consulting firm for online retailers, believes so. He told Fortune that the company will help businesses “establish themselves in the Chinese market.”

????The Alibaba Group contains four separate services, explained Tudor, each with different opportunities for small business owners looking to make gains in China. There’s Alipay, a PayPal-like business which provides an escrow service, unlike its U.S. counterpart. Then there’s TMall which resembles Amazon by letting retailers sell directly to consumers. Another arm, Taobao, is similar to eBay .

????Finally, there’s Alibaba.com, which describes itself as the world’s largest business-to-business wholesaler. With a whopping 7.3 million suppliers, including six million from China, there’s little room for debate.

????Together, these services can help small business owners “who don’t have the resources to meet the challenges of the Chinese market,” according to Tudor. At the same time, the owners will need to figure out a way to ship the products “half way around the world” themselves, said Tudor.

????Haydn Simpson, a product director at NetNames, a company that protects clients from online fraud, explained via email that that Alibaba’s potential reach into the U.S. is enormous. He pointed out that Taobao.com is the eleventh most visited site in the world, only three spots behind Amazon, according to online measurement firm Alexa.

????“There is no reason why – using one of its existing platforms or setting up one specifically for the US market – Alibaba Group cannot achieve significant penetration in the U.S.,” Simpson said.

????But the various product may also be a double-edged sword for U.S. business owners. The different services could be confusing to them, especially as they try to wrap their heads around what Alibaba actually is. In fact, even investors appear to be confused, according to a recent Fortune article.

????Despite all the “fanfare, it’s still not a household name,” said KoshaGada, a principal in the media and retail practices of A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm. “There might be a little bit of brand confusion, and they’ll have to familiarize themselves.”

????Gada also said there may be a barrier for small business owners in the U.S. who want to appear patriotic and not sell to China or place orders on Alibaba.com or Taobao.com.