EBay Strategic Audit

The given research paper deals with the strategic audit for EBay organization. The paper examines the diverse strategies implemented by this organization in its business processes. The paper appropriately follows the pattern adopted for strategic audit and discusses about the three types of analysis, the SFAS (Strategic Factor Analysis Strategy), IFAS (Internal Factor Analysis Strategy) and EFAS (External Factor Analysis Strategy).

These analyses are based upon the examination of the internal & external environments of the organization. Subsequently, the paper investigates certain strategic alternatives to resolve the problems of the organization after studying the various factors.

Ultimately, it discuses about the implementation of these alternatives and the subsequent evaluation & control processes. The paper is based on authentic data and incorporates current facts, figures & ratios collected from consistent sources.

Introduction eBay, Inc. was established in 1995 and has its headquarters in California. The organization in association with its subsidiaries provides online markets for the sale of various products and services. The organization has a significant presence in major business locations all around the world.

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eBay has categorized its business operations in three major divisions- Marketplaces, Payments and Communications. (eBay- Company Profile, 2008)

In the Marketplaces segment, eBay offers online commerce platforms where buyers as well as the sellers are able to interact and trade with each other. Such online commercial transactions are facilitated through many platforms, such as the traditional eBay.com platform and various other online platforms, including Kijiji, Gumtree.com, LoQUo.com, Marktplaats.nl, and mobile.de, Half.com, Shopping.com and StubHub. Other prominent services offered by this division include feedback forum, safeHarbor program, verified rights owner program, PowerSeller program, customer support and tools & services.

In the Payments division, the company offers PayPal, which serves as a payment platform for availing the facility of sending and receiving payments online. The major facilities provided by this service include joining the network, verification of its PayPal's account holders, money withdrawal and trust ; safety programs. Finally, the Communications division of eBay consists of Skype- an Internet communication product, which facilitates VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) communications between Skype users. At the same time, it ensures effective connectivity to traditional fixed-line and mobile telephones for the Skype users. The software offered by this division is distributed in more than 30 languages in various countries.

Financial Position: eBay has a strong financial position, which is evident from the analysis of its financial statements and ratios. The company has registered significant growth in net income as well as total assets. In addition to this, the financial ratios indicate that eBay has constantly growing cash flows and has sufficient short-term assets in order to cover the immediate liabilities. eBay also has an increasing ROE and gross profit margin, which are strong indicators of its solid financial status. (Ebay, 2008)

Internal Environment In order to investigate the strengths and weaknesses inherent in eBay, a SWOT analysis is performed. (Kazmi, 2002) Similar to many organizations, eBay also has many opportunities as well as threats in its course to the future. The company is required to follow a logical ; coherent approach for the implementation of its strategies. Adequate amount of research-work is needed to be done before undertaking new investments. Development of a growth-oriented culture is essential for successful implementation of the strategies. The top management should play a pivotal role in the implementation process. Constant review of this implementation process is necessary to recognize any obstacle in the initial stages.

Evaluation and Control The fundamental objective of strategic evaluation is to assess the effectiveness ; significance of strategy in achieving organizational objectives. In fact, the strategic evaluation and control is defined as the process of determining the effectiveness of a specific strategy in achieving the organizational objectives and the subsequent corrective action as per the demand of the situation. eBay needs to control the extent of illegal practices in its operations. At the same time, sophisticated systems need to be installed for minimizing the errors caused due to technology failures.

References

1. eBay- A Strategic Analysis. (2008). Retrieved June 25, 2008, from content.grin.com/data/29/21549.pdf
2. eBay- Company Profile. (2008). Retrieved June 25, 2008, from www.crunchbase.com/company/ebay
3. Ebay. (2008). Retrieved June 25, 2008, from www.ebay.com
4. Kazmi, A. (2002). Business Policy and Strategic Management. Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited.
5. Ramaswamy, V.S. ; Namakumari, S. (2002). Strategic Planning. Delhi: Macmillan India Ltd.