OUTLINE FOR A WRITTEN CASE REPORT

Case Report on Yahoo! Inc. - 2009Prepared by: Ancheta, Abigail M.Rueco, Reia Doreen M.Title PageTable of ContentsIntroductionEnvironmental AnalysisProblem DefinitionAlternative Courses of ActionChosen Alternative and implementationSummary of AnalysisReferencesTechnical AppendicesIntroduction

Y A H O O-"Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle

Yahoos Vision & Mission Statement

General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceGeneral EnvironmentSocial

Consumers spend more and more of their time online

Consumers negative attitude towards online advertising

Changing preferences of users

Positive

Negative

NegativeYahoo! Inc. needs to take advantage of this growing market

Potential decrease in revenues from Advertising

Yahoo needs to provide continuous innovations and upgraded features that could maintain and attract users for their website.

General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceGeneral EnvironmentSocial

Consumers spend more and more of their time online

Consumers negative attitude towards online advertising

Changing preferences of users

Positive

Negative

NegativeYahoo! Inc. needs to take advantage of this growing market

Potential decrease in revenues from Advertising

Yahoo needs to provide continuous innovations and upgraded features that could maintain and attract users for their website.

General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceGeneral EnvironmentEconomic

Cyclical Expenditures of Yahoos advertisers

Increase in Consumer Price

Increase in Interest RatesPositive and Negative

Negative

NegativeThe success of Yahoo is dependent on how much consumers are willing to spend on the internet

Content Providers may not offer their content to Yahoo on terms agreeable to them

It will affect Yahoos much needed expansion into the world of cyberspace

General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceGeneral EnvironmentPolitical & Legal

Privacy Regulation legislated by the congress

Flexible Access Rules for users.

Negative

Positive

NegativeThe ability to reach/attract a large market/audience with low barriers to entry would be difficult.There would be an increase of percentage in the users patronizing the website.

Because of the easy access of users, Yahoo could no longer monitor legal actions regarding the advertisements that pop-ups in their website.General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceGeneral EnvironmentTechnological

Advancement in technology

Specialized marketingPositive and Negative

Positive

It can affect the competitive position and market share of Yahoo depending on how well it adapts to the development of the internet

Segmenting distinctive market into individual group enables Yahoo to target the segment with customized marketing service to the specific market.General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceOperating EnvironmentInternational

International Culture (China and India have developed their own search engines)

Changing Country requirementsNegative

NegativeThere needs to be a series of substantial competitive advantages for Yahoo to remain as International brand.

Requirements concerning technological sharing, copyrights, etc varies upon the country or area. Therefore expenditures and profitability are harder to predict.General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceOperating EnvironmentSuppliers & LaborStrong and talented labor force

Wide array of servicesPositive

NegativeCould be able to establish a good relationship among their users because of the positive feedback.

Too many areas covered by Yahoo would it hard for them to take a look to every detail their users are into.General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceOperating EnvironmentCompetition

Google search engine is more preferred by the majority of users

Social Networking Websites are now breaking into Advertising Market

Websites are increasing in quality and ease for all users

NegativeAdvertising revenues are failing and customer loyalty decreases

General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceOperating EnvironmentCustomers

Specific Products offered by yahoo to specific target markets

Expanded customer base by offering services up to 45 languagesPositive

PositiveYahoo! Finance are preferred by people involved in corporate activities, investors, company stakeholders, etc. Another is Yahoo! Answers appeals more for students engaged in academic activities

Most consumers prefer to use internet by their native languages; hence the service is more attractive for themGeneral Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceInternal EnvironmentOrganizational

Partnerships with telecommunication providers

Partnerships with MLB, VISA,NFL and Microsoft

Purchasing of FlickrPositive and Negative

Positive

PositiveA fee-based yahoo package is included but if the telephone company is changed/removed, income stream is affected

Larger market and strategic revenue earning resources and opportunities along with image branding

New means of advertisingGeneral Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceInternal EnvironmentMarketing

Broadband expansion

Strong brand recognition

Mobile Market Domination

Positive

More hours spent in the internet = potential growth in sales

Increased consumer confidence over Yahoo!s services

Promotion of searches and services

Additional Source of Revenue/Income

General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceInternal EnvironmentMarketing

Differentiation is difficult for Yahoo

Yahoo felt contented on their search engine product and expanded into other areas

Adoption of Contextual Advertising

NegativeUse of alternatives(customers tend to shift from using services offered by Yahoo!)

Users are dissatisfied which causes them to look for a better search engine that would yield them relevant results

The program is still in beta and has not made any headway at attracting new publishers/advertisers.

General Worksheet for Analyzing Current SituationEnvironmentRelevant IssuesCase ImpactCase importanceInternal EnvironmentFinancial

Increase in R and D expenses

Decreasing Net income

Increased LiabilitiesPositive

Negative

NegativeMore innovations put Yahoo at a competitive advantage

these issues left stockholders at a disadvantageGeneral Worksheet For Defining Problems and their Core ElementsMAJOR PROBLEM OR ISSUEDescription of problem or issue:

Yahoo's search engine was considered as their minor concern and expanded into other areasEvidence that this is a major problem or issue:

Facts a. Yahoo focused supreme effort in the realm of content (Yahoo sees their core business as being Yahoo News, Finance and Mail. ) b. Yahoo focused on direct revenue generating streams like private advertising deals and partnerships. (They have made acquisitions such as MyBloglog and Flickr) c. Yahoo failed to update their search product which resulted to a flawed engine. The primary disconnect in the yahoo model of search engine has been the lack of precision (cluttered, irrelevant and wrong search results)

General Worksheet For Defining Problems and their Core ElementsMAJOR PROBLEM OR ISSUEEvidence that this is a major problem or issue:

2. Symptoms or other effects of the problem

Diminishing User base - Users tend to shift to other search engines device for reliable and relevant reports

Advertising Rates are falling - Through contextual advertising, advertisements which are displayed on yahoo's search result sites are not cohesive with the content provided so advertisers and web publishers are discouraged to put up their advertisements via yahoo.General Worksheet For Defining Problems and their Core ElementsMAJOR PROBLEM OR ISSUEEvidence that this is a major problem or issue:

Opinions

Focused on delivering more portal pages and additional sections to their websites resulted to high percentage of uninterested users in visiting Yahoos website. Too feature laden website makes users annoyed and irritated hence leaving Yahoo.General Worksheet For Defining Problems and their Core ElementsMAJOR PROBLEM OR ISSUEEvidence that this is a major problem or issue:

Assumptions

Due to the expansion of Yahoo to other areas, direction and focus was no longer obtained because of the broader scope which is harder to monitor and control.

General Worksheet for Evaluating Alternative Courses of ActionAlternative 1Description of Alternative:

By implementing the functional strategy, Yahoo will move forward with one core competency, which is searchStrengths of Alternative:

Regaining Users Confidence over Yahoos products/ServicesRefocusing the business in the most profitable way possibleEnsuring that the achievement of stronger and lasting position in the market is not compromised by its short-term survival means

Weaknesses of Alternative:

The relaunch of better search engine is a difficult and painstaking processRestructuring the foundation of yahoos core mission would cause a lot of sacrifices for some of its segments that generate direct revenue

General Worksheet for Evaluating Alternative Courses of ActionAlternative 1Overall evaluation of Alternative:Giving focus to a one-core competency gives Yahoo an edge in establishing user's satisfactions therefore bringing back itself to the limelight, while this strategy may seem very difficult to pull off, having a good base (which is the refined search engine) to establish an advertising network is necessary for Yahoo to go forward for growth.

General Worksheet for Implementing the Chosen AlternativeWhat should be done to implement the chosen alternative effectively?Specific recommendation:-Conduction of research & developmentJustification: -This is to keep track on the developing techniques on how to improve and achieve the refinement needed for the search engine.2. Who should be responsible in implementing the chosen alternative?Specific recommendation: -The responsibility will always be from top to bottom specially for large companies like Yahoo! Inc.Justification:-To facilitate better control over the implementation of the alternative.

General Worksheet for Implementing the Chosen Alternative3. When and where should the chosen alternative be implemented?

Specific recommendation: ASAP4. How should the chosen alternative be implemented?Specific recommendation:Refocus investments on Research and Development.

SUMMARY OF ANALYSISYahoo must've considered their search engine device as their primary concern in order to develop a good relation with that of their users which could be their potential clients.Yahoo needs to refocus on what their users are there for-search. It isn't Yahoo Finance, autos or groups, it is search. Plain and simple. Clean up the search results and the rest can be harnessed from that.Yahoo's main revenue source is advertising. If Yahoo couldn't do anything about it's search engine, user base will continue to diminish, advertisers will shift to other competitors so the revenue will keep on a downward trend. Stockholders would be dissatisfied, and in the near future, Yahoo might not be able to operate on its own and would possibly end up to divestment.Yahoo operates in the Internet products, services and content markets, which are characterized by rapid change, converging technologies and increasing competition. Operating different areas is not the main problem of Yahoo for it also serve as its competitive advantage over the others, but what matters is to have focus and control over those area in order to be in pace with the fast-moving demand in the internet world.