...The Challenges Facing eBay in 2008: Abstract EBay in 2008 announced that its long-time president and CEO, Meg Whitman was to retire and pass on her responsibility to a new president and CEO, John Donahue. After the CEO transition, Donahue faced several significant challenges, including much slower growth in eBay's core online auction business, what to do to make the recent acquisition of Skype profitable, declining numbers of auction customers (chiefly due to increasing competition from Amazon's then new and popular auction site), and weaknesses in key economies across the globe. Competitive advantage is important role in developing sustain strategies. Using porter’s five forces, this paper analyses the five factors which affect eBay strategies. These factors are major in helping the company to identify the key issues and ways of coping with complexity and change. To determine how profitable and the position of eBay in the current market, a strategic group map, weighted competitive strength assessment and financial ratios analysis were conducted. The three analyses reveal that the company is still in good standing even though there is immerse competition which results in profit margin declines. Finally this analysis looks into problems that top management of eBay is facing. With acquisition of other companies that support the company’s core business and adjusting the current strategy to encompass the company’s globalization efforts in good time the company...
Words: 1825 - Pages: 8
...that have caused eBay to struggle in Japan, China, and other Asian markets to determine if these mistakes could have been avoided. One factor that has made eBay to struggle in Asian countries was its failure to recognize the differences that existed between the Asian markets and market users and the American markets and markets users. This lack of understanding made eBay to use the strategies it had used in the US to enter the Japanese and the American markets. At the initial launch in Japan eBay set out to use collectibles this strategy was successful in the US market. This seemed to have failed as the Japanese user seemed to have preferred new products. The second mistake was eBay strategy to charge commission on each transaction as it did in the US. The Japanese market did not favor this as they were not used to pay commission or monthly charges. The second factor that made eBay to struggle in the Asian markets is its strategy of attempting to dominate the market by crashing all competition including the local. This proved to be a wrong kind of strategy as local competitors had a competitive edge over eBay. This was demonstrated by eBay earlier battle with Alibaba for the control of the Chinese market which eBay ended up losing badly to the local players. Due to the differences in market and business environments in Asia local companies that are used to these environments usually find an edge over foreign entrants and strategies such as that used by eBay have high probabilities...
Words: 709 - Pages: 3
...group assignmen Group 8 eBay- Fine- Tune its Strategy E-commerce assignment group: eBay ABSTRACT 1 EBay is one of the world leading companies, specializing in online retailing market, which has been really famous for its amazing business model and selling strategies at the point of several decades ago. It was once to be deemed as the monopolist in the online auction market business with so many successes. However, as the competition is becoming more and more intense, along with many new effective business strategies coming to the online retailing sector, the companies had committed in some mistakes as well as faced with a number of difficulties. It should and must change in order to keep up with the market speech. This paper is not only to give an overview of eBay’s company but to analyze deeply its current situations, of which providing the 8C’s, 5 forces and other relevant model analysis. In addition, the key reasons for eBay’s changes as well as key factors for its success had been identified. The recommendations for Vietnamese enterprises were also included. High Quality Class No. 2 Business Administration – Group 8 E-commerce assignment group: eBay TABLE OF CONTENT ABSTRACT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 TABLE OF CONTENT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 I. OVERVIEW OF EBAY-----------------------------...
Words: 6761 - Pages: 28
...[pic] eBay, A Company Analysis [pic] Analyzing, eBay’s Strategies, Financial Performance, S.W.O.T, and Competitive Strength in the Online Auction Industry Prepared for: Dr. Patrick Kreiser Prepared By: Katelynn Coghlan Tommy Pauley Patrick Scott October 26, 2005 There is no doubt that eBay holds the power in the online auction industry. An analysis of the key factors of their company was compiled to find out what the eBay strategy is, and how they are doing financially. Also an internal analysis of their strengths and weaknesses and an external analysis of their opportunities and threats have been provided. Finally, a strength assessment of the main competitors in the online auction industry has been determined to see how strong each competitor is. From its beginning in a San Francisco living room, eBay has grown to be in a league by itself. Analysis of eBay’s Strategy and Business Model Before eBay could begin to compete in the online auction industry a strategy and business model needed to be developed (Appendix A). eBay had to define the businesses they would be competing in and how they would compete in those specific businesses. They also needed to define how they would be a successful service to their customers. Corporate level strategy eBay’s corporate level strategy was to become a diversified business. They wanted to diversify not only the products they offered but also their customer base and global reach. By using...
Words: 4036 - Pages: 17
...EBay’s business model: The whole idea of EBay’s business models lies on the basis that anything that a person can buy or sell can be facilitated through this online retail shop. According to the case study done by J.Gopalkrishnan and V.K Gupta EBay’s business model attractiveness is based on focusing two long term goals that is to become the largest consumer to consumer online auction house internationally and they build five core marketing strategies. Moreover, research revealed that on these five core strategies (Gopalkrishnan and Gupta 2000). The five core marketing strategies are listed below: 1. Creating Unbeatable customer base: To attract new customers and to create customer monopoly eBay established a business bond with more than 60 website. For example iBazar in Europe and establishing link with America online that have largest access to the largest user base on the internet and gave special competitive advantages over its rivalries such as AOL (Gopalkrishnan and Gupta 2000). 2. Targeting local and international trading: To have local presence EBay has locally 53 sites and to maintain global presence it has users in 150 countries (Gopalkrishnan and Gupta 2000). 3. Brand image: In the begging EBay use viral marketing strategy and ability of EBay to piggyback on competitors unending efforts to retain market recognition. But as the competitors increases its marketing strategy changed (Gopalkrishnan and Gupta 2000). 4. Increasing the trading platform: As the...
Words: 514 - Pages: 3
...arising from an analysis of the business environment and the capabilities of an organization to gain an overall picture of its strategic position. This can also be useful as a basis to generate strategic options and to assess future courses of action. A SWOT is company specific as opposed to the Porters five forces which is industry specific. The aim is to identify the extent to which strengths and weaknesses are relevant to, and are capable of dealing with changes that take place in the business environment. Internal Resources and Capabilities Financial Resources Ebay is a Public Listed Company with corporate responsibilities to its shareholders. In 2006, it earned a gross profit of $4.7 billion and its total assets were $13.5 billion. This financial strength gives it opportunities to invest in activities to increase its financial strength through growth into related and other industries, global markets and also to investing in technology to increase customer satisfaction. It also allows it to invest in marketing to attract further customers and to invest in fraud prevention to protect its valuable intangible asset, its brand name. The Value Chain If organizations are to achieve competitive advantage by delivering value to customers, managers need to understand which activities their organization undertakes are especially important to creating value and which are not. Primary Activities The in bound logistics (Sales and Marketing) for Ebay is effectively the sales...
Words: 4759 - Pages: 20
...that have caused eBay to struggle in Japan, China, and other Asian markets to determine if these mistakes could have been avoided. One factor that has made eBay to struggle in Asian countries was its failure to recognize the differences that existed between the Asian markets and market users and the American markets and markets users. This lack of understanding made eBay to use the strategies it had used in the US to enter the Japanese and the American markets. At the initial launch in Japan eBay set out to use collectibles this strategy was successful in the US market. This seemed to have failed as the Japanese user seemed to have preferred new products. The second mistake was eBay strategy to charge commission on each transaction as it did in the US. The Japanese market did not favor this as they were not used to pay commission or monthly charges. The second factor that made eBay to struggle in the Asian markets is its strategy of attempting to dominate the market by crashing all competition including the local. This proved to be a wrong kind of strategy as local competitors had a competitive edge over eBay. This was demonstrated by eBay earlier battle with Alibaba for the control of the Chinese market which eBay ended up losing badly to the local players. Due to the differences in market and business environments in Asia local companies that are used to these environments usually find an edge over foreign entrants and strategies such as that used by eBay have high probabilities...
Words: 905 - Pages: 4
...[pic] eBay, A Company Analysis [pic] Analyzing, eBay’s Strategies, Financial Performance, S.W.O.T, and Competitive Strength in the Online Auction Industry Prepared for: Dr. Patrick Kreiser Prepared By: Katelynn Coghlan Tommy Pauley Patrick Scott October 26, 2005 There is no doubt that eBay holds the power in the online auction industry. An analysis of the key factors of their company was compiled to find out what the eBay strategy is, and how they are doing financially. Also an internal analysis of their strengths and weaknesses and an external analysis of their opportunities and threats have been provided. Finally, a strength assessment of the main competitors in the online auction industry has been determined to see how strong each competitor is. From its beginning in a San Francisco living room, eBay has grown to be in a league by itself. Analysis of eBay’s Strategy and Business Model Before eBay could begin to compete in the online auction industry a strategy and business model needed to be developed (Appendix A). eBay had to define the businesses they would be competing in and how they would compete in those specific businesses. They also needed to define how they would be a successful service to their customers. Corporate level strategy eBay’s corporate level strategy was to become a diversified business. They wanted to diversify not only the products they offered but also their...
Words: 4036 - Pages: 17
...MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESS MARKETS 14 COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS 15 REFERENCES 17 Company overview EBay is the largest online marketplace in the world. EBay was founded by San Jose, California launched in 1995, by Pierre Omidya. It encourage members to establish business through eBay and members can buy products through online also. EBay has an online payment called PayPal, based on the study number of current active user in eBay are 152million，which are fee based user. Each day nearly 1/3 internet users in United States visit eBay，purchase and sell products in eBay marketplace. Because from EBay website offering multi products there. EBay user can save a lot of time to shopping, and sellers can easily promote their products through eBay. Proclaims “trust” between buyers and sellers as the key to the success of the marketplace Company mission, vision and goal The mission of Pierre Omidyar establish EBay with a simple idea which is "People are basically good". At eBay, our mission is to provide a global online marketplace where practically anyone can trade practically anything, enabling economic opportunity around the world. The objective of eBay is have fun, open trusting environment to develop the work ethics and culture ,to keep the organization focused on the objective and key priories. And the vision is to provide an online marketplace to buyer and sellers. The goal of eBay aim to increase the gross merchandise volume and net revenues from the eBay marketplace...
Words: 4603 - Pages: 19
...Running Page: “eBay in Asia” Assignment #5 “eBay in Asia” MKT 505 International Marketing Dr. Deborah Hill 1. Analyze the key factors that have caused eBay to struggle in Japan, China, and other Asian markets to determine if these mistakes could have been avoided. eBay is an online auction site that works as the middle man of buyers, sellers, and businesses. They allow sellers and buyers to auction or sell their products or services on their site for a fee. eBay struggled in Japan and other Asian countries for a number of reasons such as: Yahoo! Japan – The rival auction company started about 4 years prior to eBay coming to Japan. They were offering free services such as news, chat, and email on the world wide web. As the site began to see more users, advertisers began to pay to add banners on the site. Soon after Yahoo! Japan was encouraged to start an on-line auctioning site to cater to China. It was not easy for Yang the founder of Yahoo to decide. He was told that eBay would soon come in and take over. The on-line auction started in September of 1999, while eBay’s started in Feb of 2000 (Keegan and Green pp.482). The early entry in the market was a success for Yahoo! Japan and a failure for eBay. eBay did not take the time to research and study the market or culture of Japan. eBay thought that the same approaches they had used in other countries would also work in Asian countries. Yahoo! Japan did not charge any fees for or commissions...
Words: 1259 - Pages: 6
...Comparison of eBay.com and Alibaba.com Thomas Liquori o h T a m i L s o u q . i r e m Digitally signed by Thomas Liquori DN: cn=Thomas Liquori, email=thomasliquori@a ol.com, o=thomasliquori.me, l=New York, NY Date: 2010.09.05 16:57:16 -04'00' 12/16/2009 Professor Reddi: BUS451 By: Thomas Liquori, Danauda Benjamin, and Anca Barbu EBay.com Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 3 EBay.com Products and Services .................................................................................................................. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Comparison of eBay.com and Alibaba.com Ebay.com Financial analysis .......................................................................................................................... 6 Ebay.com Last Three Year Financial Graphs ................................................................................................. 7 EBay.com TOWS Matrix Analysis .................................................................................................................. 9 EBAY.com TOWS Matrix Graph ................................................................................................................... 13 Competitive Forces for ebay.com ............................................................................................................... 14 EBay.com Industry Rivalry...
Words: 12768 - Pages: 52
...in which it operates. EBay Inc. Is one of the leading internet companies in the world. Founded in 1995 by French Iranian Pierre Omidyar, eBay is employing more than 15500 people while generating total revenue of 11.65 billion dollars as of 2011 (eBay Inc 2011 Results). The company was founded in San Jose, California with a vision of connecting people rather then sells them goods. The company has now about a billion registered users and is the most popular shopping site on the Internet. EBay’s mission is to provide a global segment platform where practically anyone can trade practically anything. It features a variety of international sites, specialty sites, 50,000 categories of merchandise, and services that aim to provide users with the necessary tools for efficient online trading in both auction style as well as fixed price formats. Recently eBay added a Want It Now and Best Offer format providing new ways for shoppers to find and buy what they want on the website. Europe, Asia and cross-border trade are major areas of growth for eBay and an immense source of revenue. The firm offers localized sites in 24 countries. On any given day, millions of items are listed on eBay in thousands of categories. People from all over the world buy and sell on eBay (Hellriegel, D., & Slocum). EBay also acquired a number of other companies. These acquisitions include the following: • PayPal. This enables any individual or business to securely and quickly send and receive...
Words: 3026 - Pages: 13
...goods and is one of the world’s most easily recognizable and well-known Web sites. eBay is a favorable proposition for smaller sellers to find markets for rare goods, or goods that are otherwise difficult to value. The company reduced posting fees for adding an item online and increased the collection fee for sold items.In August 2008, eBay lowered its listing fees for all sellers offering fixed-priced items under its “Buy It Now” format. EBay adjusted its search ordering system so that highly rated merchants appear first and receive more exposure. Roll out a rating system that made acquiring a high rating a much more time-consuming undertaking, favoring larger sellers with the time and energy to build a favorable rating. eBay’s growth strategy focused on expansion in geography and scope and on continuing innovation to enhance the variety and appeal of products in its sites. 2、Business model:brokerage model:Cyber Age through virtual network platform to bring together buyers and sellers of supply and demand information, coordination of their supply and demand and the payment of transaction costs market intermediaries Business strategy:People are basically good values:We believe that people are basically good、We recognize and respect each person is unique、 We need to encourage interaction with others empathy、We believe Integrity EBay Fine-Tunes Its Strategy Since its inception ,eBay has been synonymous with Internet auctions. It had much revenue in 1998 to 2008...
Words: 527 - Pages: 3
...eBay: “The world’s largest online marketplace”- A Case Study J.Gopalkrishnan* V.K Gupta** Abstract eBay, Inc. is the largest and most popular marketplace on the Internet, allowing members to buy and sell almost anything. Launched in 1995, about 147 million people now use eBay. An estimated 430,000 people in the United States make all or most of their living by selling on eBay. eBay’s online payment service, called PayPal, enables transactions nearly anywhere in the world. eBay proclaims “trust” between buyers and sellers as the key to the success of the marketplace. eBay is the “The world’s Online Marketplace”, which is its positioning statement, and it means many things about the company’s identity. It enables trade on local, national and international basis, with a diverse and passionate community of individuals and small businesses. eBay offers an online platform where millions of items are traded each day. The objective at eBay was to “to develop the work ethic and culture of eBay as a fun, open and trusting environment and to keep the organization focused on the big picture objectives and key priorities. The company market capitalization had surpassed that of even Amazon.com, making it the “world’s most valuable Internet retailer”. Pierre Omidyar, founder, is focused to achieve excellence in strategic management for improving the company’s strategy, sustaining the company’s growth and business performance, and potentially expanding from online auctions into general “etailing”...
Words: 3943 - Pages: 16
...eBay, Inc. (2002) Overview eBay 2002 Founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar and Jeff Skoll, the eBay online marketplace was developed in order to provide individuals a place to sell goods and services. eBay became a phenomenon that attracted some 10 million auctions in its first three years. This success provided eBay the necessary foundation to complete an initial public offering (IPO) in 1998. eBay’s online auction concept is relatively simple. Sellers register with eBay and use its suite of online tools to place nearly any item up for sale. Buyers navigate eBay’s vast array of categories or use search functionality to find goods or services that they wish to bid on. Once the auction is won, the buyer may use PayPal, the online payment service, to complete the transaction. Perhaps the most powerful part of the eBay process lies with the feedback scores that are given by both buyer and seller following the completion of the transaction. Feedback scores are public information and allow other buyers and sellers to determine whether a person is worthy of doing business with or not. A negative feedback on eBay is akin to having a bad credit score with a bank. By providing a marketplace for “new and scarce goods, end-of-life products, and used and vintage items,” eBay provides a valuable service in which they attempt to “make inefficient markets more efficient.[1]” While other Internet business models have failed in recent years...
Words: 5371 - Pages: 22
