Executive Summary
This report seeks to evaluate the major issue facing eBay with regards to its international strategy. This will be done through the analysis of eBay’s competitive environment using the Porter’s 5 forces and positioning in the industry using the BCG portfolio matrix. Following which, we will proceed to identify the sustainable competitive advantages of eBay using the resource-based view of the firm. The core competence of eBay will also be discussed. Through an overview of the above mentioned analyses, we will propose recommendations to address the problem faced by eBay.
Major Issue
From the case, our group has identified a major issue which is imperative to eBay’s future growth and sustainability.
EBay has been doing
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However, it should be noted that not all webhosting companies are able to host the colossal traffic required by eBay. In addition, eBay would preferably choose a webhosting option that is reliable and offers round the clock customer service since people conduct business over eBay round the clock.
Next, there is a moderate threat of substitute services. More and more offline companies are tapping on the vast potential of the online market through the creation of their online retail sites. For example, if someone wants to get a Dell computer, he may choose to go to Dell’s online store to purchase it. However, the uniqueness of the online auction site is that almost everything under the sun can be listed for sale. If a person is looking to buy something special, he can more often than not find it listed on eBay.
Lastly, there is a great intensity of rivalry among the competitors in the industry. Because of the potentially lucrative market in Asia, there are many competitors wanting a slice of the pie and that includes search engine giant, Google. In China, Alibaba-owned Taobao is already providing intense competition by providing zero listing costs and providing customer service catered to the needs of the local population[2]. In Korea, Gmarket is also providing intense competition by continuously introducing new marketing initiatives such as the ‘lucky lottery’ where buyers may be able to purchase an item for 10% of its retail
Ebay, as a company itself, fits more in the category of an oligopoly, which is actually pretty common in any market. Other alternative websites include Yahoo!, Amazon, and Quibids, but there are only a small number of them, certainly not hundreds as in monopolistic competition. Also, eBay is interdependent on the few other auction website companies, competing with the fees they charge, as well as quality of customer support, and buyer/seller reliability. Another characteristic of eBay that coincides with it being considered an oligopoly is the fact that it has numerous entry barriers. It’s such a large company with many restrictions, and it would be hard for an up and coming substitute auction website to break into the market and compete with eBay or the other top companies in the industry. (6)
EBay has paved the wave in this industry and being in a billion dollar industry making things happen to benefit consumers in many ways.[5]
Amazon and Ebay are two well-known brands of online shopping sites. They have evolved and grown from small firms to the giants of e-commerce today. In this essay, a comparison would be made between the two firms.
This use case begins when a potential buyer visits the Ebay website to login or register with the intent of buying something.
From the outset, the company’s founders shared a belief that the Internet would level the playing field by enabling small enterprises to leverage innovation and technology to grow and compete more effectively in the domestic and global economies. Since launching its first website helping small Chinese exporters, manufacturers and entrepreneurs to sell internationally, Alibaba Group has grown into a global leader in online and mobile commerce. Today the company and its related companies operate leading wholesale and retail online marketplaces as well as Internet-based businesses offering advertising and marketing services, electronic payment, cloud-based computing and network services and mobile solutions, among
1. The most strategic issue Etsy is facing right now is figuring out how the company should position itself to move forward after facing disruption from Amazon. While the company originally thrived by being the go-to marketplace for artisans of any craft, Etsy has strayed away from what it was at the core – a platform for people who loved to make crafts. Amazon’s platform (being the best source for consumer reviews) has allowed Amazon to introduce new markets to a wide variety of users and attract a huge amount of traffic for sellers. Amazon is allowing artisans who once sold on Etsy to access a huge user base and sell their products. For Etsy, the company needs to figure out if there is a business model which allows sellers to create products
A high level of independent cooperative behaviour is also very important if you are an employee in Ebay. The company empower you to make a difference. Obviously teamwork is also vital in Ebay but they want you thinking outside the box to come up with new ideas.
EBay is a multinational e-commerce organization headquartered in California, U.S. One of the inconceivable accomplishments in the website business is EBay. It gives extensive variety of products and services including however not constrained to online auctions. In a straightforward word, it is only a shopping site established by Pierre Omidyar. For him, EBay was only a side interest amid its beginning stage until higher activity on his site drove him to make it a business.
eBay was founded in 1995 and gained the first mover advantage establishing itself as the first major online auction site. The firm started out offering its' services as an intermediary, facilitating the auction of goods by providing a common platform to be used by buyers and sellers. Today the firm has evolved significantly, operating across the globe with more than 97 million different active users registered (eBay, 2012). In total, the organization facilitates the sale of more than US $2,000 every second of every day (eBay, 2012). The growth of the auction service has died classified the development as well as acquisition strategies to provide services and products that complement the core operations. For example, the acquisition of PayPal, the online payment provider has complimented the ability for consumers to pay for goods
Whereas the company’s vision statement is “eBay inc. pioneers communities built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity. eBay brings together millions of people everyday on a local,
The purpose of this financial analysis is to evaluate eBay to determine its suitability for investment of $25 million dollars. I will examine whether or not the company is stable, solvent, liquid, or profitable enough to be invested in. It will examine the business, accounting and financial positioning of the company. Following eBay 's industry examination, a recommendation on eBay 's stock will be provided along with a decision.
How the five forces analysis reveal about the nature and strength of the various competitive pressures eBay faces
Therefore the installation, maintenance and customization of the e-commerce services should be based on various shopping carts which includes; Drag and drop designs, password protected web pages and individual pages for new products and the bestselling products, to name a few. These shopping carts offer various features that enable online product management services which should be crucial to the organization. In addition, they offer internet payment options such as, merchant accounts that should be helpful to the organization (secure trading, 2014). Also, they can support processing of credit cards in real-time. They can support payment by checks or cash on delivery. In addition, checks by email and manual getaways where; orders and information of payment are collected and processed offline.
eBay.com, “the world’s online marketplace”, is an online auction and shopping website in which people and business buy and sell a wide variety of goods and services worldwide. It is managed by eBay Inc, which is founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar. eBay’ mission was to provide a robust trading platform where practically anyone could trade anything. It was recognized as the largest and most popular person-to-person trading community on the Internet. (eBay Case, 2006) eBay posted US $8.7 billion in revenue with a net income at $2.4 billion in 2009. eBay is
What aspects of eBay’s strategic capability are easily copied by new entrants and if so would you copy them and how would you copy them?