Former Alibaba CEO Ma Yun (looking left) hugs his successor Lu Zhaoxi, also known as Jonathan Lu, in Hangzhou in May 2013. [Dong Xuming / for China Daily]

Ma preferred encouraging local people to make their own success to hiring more local people in his company.

"In the next 10 to 20 years, most large companies will be very global and international, but today is too early. We don't have any confidence right now. So that's why we do not want to come earlier," said Ma.

Instead, Ma hoped more South Korean students could join in Alibaba's headquarters in China's Hangzhou for at least two to three years, gaining experiences and then going back to their country to "create their own business."

In China, most multinational and national shopping service providers operated by professional managers are forced by pressures from shareholders to expand revenues and profits and get more overseas market shares. That is why they are less successful than local ones who want to stay longer to serve customers better, Ma added.

"But for us, we believe customers No 1, employees No 2, shareholders No 3. We think shareholder is important, but we believe customer is more important," said Ma.