economy - The epic struggle between Ebay and Taobao

The struggle between auction sites Ebay (former Eachnet) and Taobao in China is getting more and more fascinating. There are many similarities with silimilar clashes between foreign companies entering the China market and their domestic competitors.
The strange part is that Ebay, despite the purchage of a succesful domestic player, has been able to lose its ability to compete on the domestic market.
Jack Ma in the Red Herring:

Mr. Ma, 40, can’t resist the war metaphors when speaking of the struggle for China’s online auction market. He draws on the Vietnam War in particular: eBay “carpet bombs” Chinese cities with advertising, while his Taobao team “hides out in our caves” in its headquarters in Hangzhou, he says. He likens eBay’s implementation of its global technology platform in China to “trying to land advanced jets in muddy rice paddies.” And while eBay’s generals are “very good at commanding regular troops, they don’t know how to fight a guerrilla war,” says Mr. Ma. He believes the online auction giant should have taken an important page from American military history: never fight a land war in Asia.

Books on Ebay