Editing Vertical integration (section)

===Big tech===
[[Big Tech]] companies such as [[Alphabet Inc.|Alphabet]], [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]], [[Baidu]] and [[Alibaba]] have been noted as examples of both vertically and horizontally integrated companies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hylden |first=George |title=The New Face of Business Model Innovation |url=https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/ami/issues/volume-03-issue-1/industry-watch/new-face-business-model-innovation |access-date=2025-05-20 |website=cmp.smu.edu.sg}}</ref>

In order to increase profits and gain more market share, Alibaba, has implemented vertical integration deepening its company holdings to more than the e-commerce platform. Alibaba has built its leadership in the market by gradually acquiring complementary companies in a variety of industries including delivery and payments. For example, Alibaba is the owner of logistics operator [[Cainiao]], which handles warehousing and last-mile delivery for products sold through Alibaba's platforms.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2019-02-04 |title=JD vs Alibaba in the last mile: what's happening behind the Great Wall |url=https://www.parcelandpostaltechnologyinternational.com/analysis/jd-vs-alibaba-in-the-last-mile-whats-happening-behind-the-great-wall.html |access-date=2025-05-20 |website=Parcel and Postal Technology International |language=en-GB}}</ref> It also operates Alipay, a payment platform for its merchants.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Jia |first=Minshu |title=Analyzing the Chinese online-to- offline business dynamics |date=2016 |publisher=[[Aalto University]] |url=https://epub.lib.aalto.fi/en/ethesis/pdf/14425/hse_ethesis_14425.pdf}}</ref>