December 15, 2010
December 15, 2010
Table of content
1. Executive summary 2
2. Strategic review 3 a) A strategic analysis of the organisation 3 i. Environmental analysis 3 ii. Resources and competence analysis 4 iii. Culture, stakeholder analysis and ethical issues 5 b) Recommendation for future development 7 i. TOWS matrix 7 ii. The best option - global expansion 11
3. References 12
Appendix 1:PESTEL analysis 13
Appendix 2: Porter’s five forces model 15
1. Executive summary
The following analysis has focused on strategic analysis, including environmental, resources and culture analysis and generates strategic choices based on these analyses. First, the report starts with PESTEL analysis to how macro environments impacts on eBay. It found that globalisation, consumer buying patterns and increase of the number of internet shoppers have positive impacts on eBay. However, e-commerce tax would impact on eBay negatively due to may impact on the price of services. The report shows the Porter’s five forces whether the industry has a high barrier entry. It found that eBay is on strong competitive position. Finally, the report explains where the industry currently sits in terms of its life cycle. Second, the report uses the resources/competence matrix to find out the eBay’s core competences. The report found some significant competences for eBay to be more competitive. Good financial performance, core tech patents and Paypal will help eBay to be more competitive than other competitors. Third, culture of eBay is unusual which means that communication between employees is free and it encourages exchanging the ideas and experiences. Also eBay launched the eco-friendly packaging which can protect environment.
The report generates strategic recommendation to increase the performance of eBay by analysing these details. The report uses the TOWS matrix and generated 3 possible options which are global expansion, physical eBay
References: * Business: The Economy Government retreat on e-commerce (1999, May 26). BBC NEWS. Retrieved December 6, 2010 from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/the_economy/353416.stm * Court fines eBay over fake goods * eBay Annual Report. (2009). Retrieved November 14, 2010 from: http://investor.eBay.com/common/download/download.cfm?companyid=eBay&fileid=361552&filekey=b45137ee-aa41-4c2c-94ca-d72d5b0844be&filename=eBay_77655_BANNERLESS.pdf * eBay culture * eBay Green team. (2010, September 1). Retrieved December 12, 2010 from: http://www.eBaygreenteam.com/projects/the-eBay-box * eBay Online Business Index * Grantham, L.M. (1997). The validity of the product life cycle in the high-tech industry [Electronic version]. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 15(1), 4 – 10. * Office for National Statistics. (2010). Internet Access 60% of adults access internet every day in 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2010, from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=8 * Patents.com (2010) * Schwanhausser, M. (2008, February 29). EBay secures ‘Buy it Now’ patent rights. Contra Costa Times (California). Retrieved December 14, 2010 from the Nexis UK database. * Tax gets real for eBayers. (2005, September 9). BBC NEWS. Retrieved December 6, 2010 from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4229406.stm Appendix 1: PESTEL analysis * Government policies: Some government policies in favour and against interests might be introduced. When looking in the past though, national governments have left e-commerce alone (Business: The Economy, 1999). Economic * Green Business model – eBay recently launched “The eBay Box” which help the environment by reusing the packaging ( eBay Green Team, 2010).