What explains Alibaba’s miraculous IPO success on the New York stock exchange?

Shattering the all-time high record of $68.15 billion set by AT&T in April 2000, Alibaba became the world’s largest IPO, raising $169.4 billion at the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014. Using this outstanding case, the underlying drivers for foreign IPO success were explored. Four propositions are elaborated on: (1) companies choose the capital market with the institutional environment accommodating their internal characteristics, thereby taking advantage of the institutional differences between home and host countries to facilitate their development strategy; and (2) companies’ IPO success is largely driven by the industry growth potential, fundamentals, and strategic alliances.