Yahoo Inc. Strategic Analysis - Case Study Example

Executive summary Founded in 1994, the yahoo company has been among the topmost web search companies globally that peopleuse. The competition in the online market is getting stiff and many competitors joining the market. In order to compete favorably, the Yahoo Company had to develop strategies that would ensure they beat their competitors in the market. Yahoo’s main competitor is Google that is constantly bringing, in new digital products, to stay on top of the market. The major targets that the company concentrates on are the Users, the advertisers and publishers. By offering their services to these groups of people, they generate income that will enable them continue running the company. Over the years, the company has been implementing various strategies that would enable it improve the services offered and the amount of revenue collected. Such moves included hiring competent employees, introducing more services and setting up a webpage that is enticing and will enable them get a number of clicks. In the face of rising competition in the market environment, the company has strived to improve in its revenues and competitive position in the market. This study, therefore, looks into the various strategic aspects that the company has put, in place, to compete favorable in the market. With other big players like Google in the market, the strategies put in place by the company would ensure fairness in the market competition. The Yahoo Inc strategies Internal analysis The Yahoo Inc Company has largely placed its focus on products and people since this form the basis of their operations. The company’s major goal was to bring quality products into the market. In a bid to improve its existence, the yahoo company produced new products such as the new and improved version of the Yahoo mail. Different from the initial versions, this new version could be accessed on other mobile devices such as iPhone, windows 8, iPod and Android OS. The introduction of this new version greatly changed the market competition since many people could access yahoo services from their devices. At the same time, the new Yahoo mail version was blended with flicker, a photo sharing application that enable users to capture and share their photos easily across the social media networks such s facebook, twitter or Tumblr among other through email. At the same time, in a bid to improve the internal structure of the company, talented persons were hired and placed into administrative posts. Relatively, the company acquired mobile phone application developers who would enable them to invent applications that would bring their services closer and closer to the customers. Through this team, the company established a professional team of engineers, designers and managers who would ensure the company attains its set target. In order to ensure the company maintains exemplary performance, a hiring system was put in place that was rigorous and intensive. Employee performance was also evaluated quarterly, with a provision of perfect working environment for all of the workers. Within the management system, the company developed a policy that would enable it monitor the performance of its products and services across the web. Such system was also designed to address the internal issues that the company faced. The incorporation of these internal factors was meant to place the company in a competitive position that would ensure better products and services offered to the customers. This system also ensured accountability on the side of every employee as well as the other people working in the company. External analysis In terms of external factors, the company has set up various strategies to enable it interact well moreover, competitively in the business environment. This implies that they had to launch new products that would attract many people towards using their services. Thus, in order to provide a lasting advertising solution, the company decided to launch a yahoo genome. This advertising platform was meant to ease the interaction between marketers and their target audience. Through this, the company aimed to reach many customers who were advertising their products and services online. At the same time, the company engaged, in partnership content with other companies, to bring diverse products and services to customers. Some of these included channels such as the CNBC, Clear Channel, NBC sports, Wenner Media, Spotify, and Launchedomg. With this, company’s objective was to attract many people together through their advertising means. In addition, there are the key five forces analysis that looks into the business environment in which that the company operates. These include the threats of entry, threats of substitutes, bargaining powers of suppliers and that of the buyers. In terms of entry threats, the online market is open, and a free entry and exit exists; thus competitors can move in and introduce new products into the online market. This makes the business environment very competitive since each company tries to bring new products. Substation is equally easy since the presence of many competitors offers a myriad of options to these people. The free market system also allowed customers to suppliers to bargain for the best services that they required with many options put in place. Through such options, the customers find choices of making a selection that suits them well and effectively. The choices may include purchasing and supplying products at costs that they feel is good and will give them profits and quality results respectively. Yahoo is thus obliged to ensure flexibility in this market-system to enable them offer quality services to the customers. The new yahoo mail interface was designed to bring various products to customers hence flexibility in the market. Integration With a good internal management system in place, the company was certain to produce products and services that would suit the current and the future market demands. The team of professionals was meant to focus on the external factors on the market and use them to produce customer tailored products and services. This indeed was achieved with many people accessing the Yahoo services. Critical issues Despite the company’s success, there are certain critical issues that need to be addressed. Some of these included the investment risk. Investment risks greatly affect the market value of the company products in the market. This value may change from time to time hence making it difficult to project future profits. Furthermore, the Alibaba group business shares stand to affect to a great extent the business operations. This too is a critical issue since the groups’ business condition as well as their market rates could affect the company value. This, in turn, would have an impact in the operations of the business as well as their incomes. These are thus considered critical issues in the company that requires permanent solution. Alternative strategies for the company The system put in place by the company is equally sufficient; however, bringing in certain changes may help in boosting their performance. Some of these may include an introduction of a better Yahoo messenger. The current messenger has limited features such as the SMS system can only be accessed by people from Canada, US and Britain. This is so as compared to their major competitor Google, which has the free SMS feature in many courtiers worldwide. This move will ensure wide spread use of their services across the globe. The company can also invite alternative products and application developers to come and use their name to bring new products. Such may include manufacturers of operating systems and other digital applications that would be loved by the customers. This strategy would ensure growth and expansion of the company services. Consequently, the company may choose to form a partnership with other companies dealing, with similar products, to ensure they get a large market share. For instance, forming an alliance with facebook would witness many people opening social media accounts through Yahoo mail, a factor that may lead to company growth and expansion. Recommendations Among the above alternatives, the best one could be the company forming an alliance with other social media platforms. These may include facebook and twitter, which are largely used across the globe. Such a move would ensure the company getting many customers as well as advertisers accessing their website each day. In turn, the sales return would be good and the company likely to achieve rapid growth. Work Cited Yahoo Inc. "Annual reports." Yahoo Inc. 2012 1.17 (2012): 1- 144. Print. Read More