EBay’s SWOT Analysis from an IT Stand Point With the development of computer science that triggered tremendous uprising of various new technologies, Internet has become one of the most attractive fields for investing. A lot of different ventures have been started, and most of them turned out to be rather profitable. EBay is one of those ventures, and within the course of this report we will do the SWOT analyses for EBay as well as discuss their overall strategies for further growth and development. EBay is the forerunner to the Internet classifieds. (Fellenstein, p. 67) Their approach to Internet based business is rather unique the company took the traditional classified section of local and international newspapers and trade magazines from all over the globe and created an Internet version that everyone who has access to Internet can enjoy. With the help of the Internet, they have brought markets together by offering millions of sellers the opportunity to sell their products to millions of potential buyers.
With eBays auction style selling, the buyers manipulate the pricing initially set by the seller and adjust the final selling price based on what the market will bear. For now, EBay has successfully branded its name and is the premier auctioneer of choice for millions of buyers and sellers. However, EBay is faced with many challenges as it struggles to define the strategies for the next phase of growth. At year-end December 31, 2001, eBays business has grown to $748.8 million in net revenues and net income to $90.4 million, representing a 74% annual growth. (Fellenstein, p. 84) EBay currently has about 50 million registered users, a level representing more than 100% increase over the 22.5 million users reported at the end of the year 2000. The incredibly rapid growth of the Internet market that no other mass medium in history ever experienced is attracting fierce competitors such as Amazon.com and Yahoo! as well as new startups. In order to maintain its competitive edge and continue its growth, EBay will need to identify new marketing strategies and guide the organization into executing these strategies effectively.
The Essay on Nestles Growth Strategy And Business Development
1.) Does it make sense for Nestle to focus its growth on emerging markets? As it can be derived from the text, Nestle generates operates worldwide with a focus on European markets, which make up 70 percent of its sales. These markets are in the mature state of life cycle of that industry and additionally demographic changes such as the stagnation of population growth rates make it very hard ...
Strengths EBays success can be attributed to several key factors. First, eBay has established itself as a community, creating a bond amongst its users; which differentiates eBay from other major competitors. The services it offers are available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, bringing people from all walks of life together into one central marketplace. Second, eBay has established brand name recognition. Most Internet savvy individuals have heard of EBay. In fact, during the 2001 Christmas season, eBay was the number one online holiday shopping destination with 5 million unique daily visitors. (May, p.
77) Third, EBays business model of generating its revenue by collecting listing fees and commissions from product sales has been sound. As of December 31, 2001, eBay had 126.5 million listings, while users transacted over $2.7 billion of gross sales in the fourth quarter of 2001 alone. (May, p. 80) Finally, EBays low overhead and infrastructure has given them a tremendous edge on generating profits. Weaknesses EBays technology infrastructure may be their biggest issue. EBay supported 300 million page views per day during the fourth quarter of 2001 and sent out more then 1.5 giga-bits per second. (Fellenstein, p.
99) With this amount of data passing back and forth over its technology platform, additional increases in subscribers and user transactions make it extremely vulnerable for data interruptions. Although EBay achieved 99.9% site availability for two straight quarters, their technology platform will potentially face unprecedented challenges if the subscriber base continues to grow at its current rate. (May, p. 123) Another issue that EBay faces in managing its business for profitability, growth, and dominance is its staffing and organizational structure. As the business experiences tremendous growth and expansion into new markets, growing through acquisitions, and offering additional services, it needs an informed and experienced staff to support corporate objectives. As the company takes on new ventures, the existing staff may not be knowledgeable enough to manage the business. The company must take steps to ensure it doesnt outgrow its current internal capabilities by hiring skilled managers capable of solving tomorrows problems.
The Term Paper on Business Intelligence Strategy at Canadian Tire
The Retail group has just sent me another quick win request, stated Michael Eubanks, director of marketing information technology (IT), as he walked into his meeting with Andy Wnek, chief information officer (CIO) of Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC). That’s the second one this week, and I have heard whispers about more. Dealing with these quick wins is going to make it difficult to redevelop the ...
Opportunities Opportunities are abound for EBay. As Internet commerce flourishes globally, EBay can implement a global strategy for maintaining its competitive advantage by expanding its community of buyers and sellers. By targeting individual buyers and sellers world wide, EBays subscriber base can grow exponentially. But there is another target audience that EBay can attract, that is the business to business market. This market has tremendous opportunities and is unrivaled for expansion. Another golden opportunity for EBay is to align itself with some strategic partners. For example, a preferred shipping company and a secure payment company.
The most fundamental strategy in obtaining distinctive competencies would be to erect barriers to entry. One manner in which to do so would be to develop strategic partnerships that would firmly entrench eBay as the online auctioning model that no other company could copy. By reverse engineering the EBay experience, one can determine that payment and shipment are the two most important components of the eventual transaction. Therefore, it would be logical for EBay to form a partnership with a reliable shipping company and a secure payment (credit card) company. Threats The most threatening issue facing EBay is, of course, competition. Due to the low overhead associated with Internet commerce versus brick and mortar retailers, many barriers are eliminated for established companies. Because EBay offers many different products across many different categories through its fixed pricing sites and auction site, the competition is fierce and many.
The Business plan on Organizational Fit Erp Business Companies
INTRODUCTION The assignment will explore ERP from its origin and would shed light on its fundamentals and implementation procedures. ERP will be evaluated from two perspectives of two different companies which implemented the ERP solution. First we will be discussing! SS Cisco! |s!" ERP implementation and the technical and business issues related to that and then we will move on to the other case ...
EBays competitors include the major mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart and Amazon.com, as well as some new comers to the online business such as Buy.com, AOL.com, Yahoo, and MSN. Still other electronic retailers exist that offer their products through multiple channels like cable television and the Internet, such as QVC and the Home Shopping Network. (Fellenstein, p. 104) Another threat that EBay faces is that of regulatory and litigation risks. As a broker of merchandise, the question of whom should be held accountable and responsible for the accuracy, authenticity, reliable deliveries, or fraudulent activities from business transactions. Since EBay approves buyers and sellers to transact business through its computer system, should they be liable for their actions? These activities represent real and potential risks that can and will be costly to EBay.
Not only in litigation costs but management will be distracted from managing its core business. Current Strategies EBays current business strategy is to execute a strategy that balances increasing bottom-line returns with investments in future growth. Near term investments include international development and selective expansion, broadening and deepening category offerings, development of fixed price formats and other merchandising options. Additionally, improving the user experience, ongoing development of eBays next generation architecture and attracting new buyers and sellers to the eBay platform while building loyalty with existing eBays community of users. With eBays forecast of growth, they plan on achieving $3 billion in revenue by 2005, based on its estimated size of its addressable markets. () These markets include the categories of collectibles, practical items, computers, used autos and parts, and the continued strength of its proven global trading model. Two immediate issues are front and center for EBay.
The first issue facing EBay will be its ability to integrate a technological platform capable of handling the increased exponential surge of transactions that is anticipated with its forecasted growth. And the other main issue facing EBay will be its ability to expand its organizational structure well enough to manage and support all the business objectives of acquisitions, market expansion, and technological growth without adding substantial overhead cost and reducing profitability. With the rate of growth EBay projects just for the next two years, the current system will need a tremendous investment in hardware, software, security, and engineering. EBay needs flexibility to handle the increase system challenges in order to respond to multiple systems associated with the mergers and acquisitions as well as the transactional growth it anticipates. Additionally, it needs to insure a stable system operation that has built-in redundancy for protection from system failures, downtime, hackers, and viruses. As for its internal growth, this is a major challenge for any company.
The Essay on Business System Analysis Cheat Sheet
A system is a set of steps (process) put together to accomplish a task. An information system (IS) is an arrangement of people, data, processes, and information technology that interact to collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to support an organization. Types of IS : A transaction processing system (TPS): captures and processes data about business transactions. A ...
Maintaining a loyal workforce, hiring qualified individuals, and keeping everyone informed of new or current policies and procedures will take a commitment from the top. A clear vision and strategic plan from a qualified Human Resource professional is in order. One of the most vital things that EBay should consider when developing its current strategies is making sure that their systems of money transactions as well as all the information about buyers and sellers is properly secured. A business that big is always a great target for those computer professionals who can use their knowledge to make money, and in the contemporary shaky situation when the legislation about Internet and the activities within its conceptual framework is not well defined, someone might take advantage of any potential weakness in the system and use it to his/her benefit. (Ghosh, p. 117) Words Count: 1,511.
Bibliography: Fellenstein, S. and Wood R. Exploring E-Commerce, Global E-Business and E-Society. Prentice Hall, 2002. Ghosh, A. Security and privacy for E-business.
Wiley, 2001. Hoque, F. E-Enterprise: Business Models, Architecture and Components. Cambridge University Press, 2000. May, P. The Business of Ecommerce: from Corporate Strategy to Technology. Cambridge University Press, 2002. Menasce, D.
The Business plan on Financing A Business
... need to be figured in this step of the business plan.After the business plan is all figured an organizational chart should be ... plan includes initial investment needed to start and maintain the business; and projected income, expenses, and profit. Hiring an account ... proprietorship, a partnership, or a corporation. A proprietorship is a business owned by one person called the proprietor. Since several ...
Scaling for e-business. Prentice Hall, 2000. Modahl, M. Now or Never: How Companies Must Change Today to Win the Battle for Internet Consumers. Harperbusiness, 2001..
