Yahoo and Amazon: Building a Competitive Advantage - Assignment Example

Assignment Yahoo and Amazon: Building a Competitive Advantage Question Amazon.com is the global American electronic commerce company founded in the year 1994. The company was founded by Jeff Bezos. The main headquarters of Amazon is in Seattle, United States. In 1995, it launched online bookstore. Itswiftly diversified bookstore in to selling MP3, CDs, DVDs, furniture, clothing, toys, jewelry, apparel, software and video games.Vision and mission of Amazon is to become supreme customer centric company in the world. The key mission of the company is to build a place for people to discover and buy anything through online. The part of unwavering commitment to the vision of the company is the pivotal reason behind the success of Amazon.com. The company has solitary mission and clear focus from beginning. Main key strategies of the company are continuous innovation, creating unbeatable logistics and providing value added service to customers. Six new business development of Amazon are advancements in the delivery service of internet retail, one employee engagement development and three hardware innovation developments. Amazon Prime Pantry and Amazon Fresh are the two improvements in internet retails delivery service. Amazon Pay to Quit is the employee engagement development. Finally, Amazon phone, Amazon Fire TV and Amazon Dash are three hardware innovations developments. Yahoo is an American multinational company provides internet services to business and users. The main headquarter of Yahoo is in Sunnyvale, California. The company is known worldwide for its search engine and Web portal. Other related search engines of the company are Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Answers, Yahoo Groups, video Sharing, Yahoo directory, Social media sites and online mapping. The mission of the company is to provide internet service worldwide to businesses and consumers, then become most essential internet service in the world. The main core values of the company are flawless execution on quality, customer fixation, innovation, commitment to community and maintain customer loyalty. Other objectives of the company is to provide best possible experience for internet, innovate other services of Yahoo and providing effective communication tools for consumers. The main focus for implementation of business strategy is to improve customer satisfaction and increase revenue for growth. Question 2 Yahoo and Amazon are one of the biggest multinational companies that have implemented strategic planning to maintain sustainability and sustain its competitiveness. The stiff competition in market leads to the implementation of segmentation, targeting and positioning process. Market segmentation process of Amazon Company is to entail and notify different groups of customers who are using the products. The main products of the company are DVDs, CDs, books, toys, furniture, etc. The company implements demographic segmentation. This segmentation entails the classification of customers. The demographic characteristics include age, gender, family size, income, nationality, etc. The products which are launched by company on online sites are all based on customer segmentation. Books available on the online website are applicable for all type of gender and ages. Some books and products that are available in the site can be difficult for certain people to afford. This procedure can help to understand the characteristics of the consumers (Sakas, 2010). The development of the segment profile by company enables people to buy any products regardless of age, income and gender. Target market determination is implemented to select one or more segment and concentrate on it. Targeting market segment enables to reduce cost of the company by identifying the target market. Target market for Amazon Company is widely demographics. There are no specific age levels for people to buy products via online. The positioning process of the company must be standout that that of other competitors to attract customers. The company maintains high quality and economic price. Cost leadership and differentiation are the techniques used by Amazon Company to change the efficiency of the firm. Many offers are available to attract large size of customers. The firm focus on adding value as it can help to form more appealing than that of other competitors in the heavy competitive market. The main goal of Yahoo Company is to provide best internet experience to the consumers. The company focuseson psychographic segmentation. This segmentation can influence the purchasing decision of customers. The implementation of this process enables company to increase the brand value and high level of customer satisfaction. Various search engines of Yahoo Company are Yahoo finance, Yahoo groups, Yahoo Answers, Fantasy sports, Yahoo Mail and Yahoo news. Yahoo Finance provides financial information to the people about stock exchange rates, financial reports and stock quotes (Wilson, 2009). Yahoo Mail is another search engine which enables people to store data with maximum storage capacity of 1 TB. These are totally different for different segment of people. Market positing of the company is based on customer satisfaction.The Yahoo.com and other search engines of the company are free to use and efficient. Question 3 The pivotal goals of Amazon.com are efficient corporate growth and customer satisfaction. The marketing strategies of the company are based on six pillars. User-friendly interface, effective service, existing communication systems are used, scale can be easily changed from small to large, universal behaviors is utilized and associateresources and products. Strengths of the company are expertise in e-commerce, increase in overall revenue, expertise in management, marketing experts, presence of international business, customer service for agencies and marketers are outstanding and strong brand. The internet search engine giant Yahoo.com has several strengths. Maximum number of revenue is generated through ads. Emergent strategies of Yahoo are the growth of global advertising, e-commerce, emerging economics, diversification in service industry, social media sites, increasing the budget of video marketing. Emergent strategies of Amazon are advancement CRM software, diversification of customer satisfaction. Intended strategies of Amazon are value customer by technology advancement, concentric diversification, one-click system. Intended strategy of Yahoo are increase customer experience, flexibility, innovation and flexible work culture. Yahoo.com is regarded as one of the powerful marketing company due to its large customer base. Over 35 million users are active in the service and solution of various search engine of Yahoo. Large number of product portfolio such as Yahoo mobile, Yahoo real estate, yahoo mail, yahoo personal etc. contrast on both companies regarding their strategic implementation are attracting people, building interface which are customer friendly, customer centric company, innovation and user friendly (Pailwoda, 2013). Amazon.com has payment options to facilitate all payment. Yahoo is the online search engine that enables users to find information and store data. Yahoo uses strategy to increase the efficiency of customer interface online. Amazon implements affiliate marketing. Question 4 The distinctive competencies of Amazon Company are convenience, technological capabilities, cost leadership, reputation, innovation especially in R and D sector, wide range of products. These capabilities of the company enable to ensure successful implementation of strategies. The wide variety of products that are available in Amazon.com can encourage customers to buy new products. The pivotal vision of the company is to ensure business growth, value added service and innovation. The implementation of this strategy can be ensured due to huge opportunity of the company. New developments of the company are employee engagement, hardware innovation and efficient delivery service. Amazon Dash is one of the developments of the company. This enables consumers to create own shopping list by the help of barcode scanner and voice recognition. Amazon Fire TV is the wonderful innovation of the company. Customers are provided small set top box. Streaming movies, television are delivered by the help of set top box. This business strategy of the company cannot be possible by the distinctive competencies of the company. The distinctive competencies of Yahoo Company are search capabilities, huge customer base, digital advertising, talented marketing experts, global business presence, expertise in e-commerce, experience in management and leadership. The rapid growth of internet market and created a huge opportunity for the company. The implementation of the strategies can be successfully initiated by the distinctive competencies of the company. The company becomes one of the largest visited sites. This is mainly due to easy navigation and increase in interest from surfers. The lucrative business model of Yahoo has created huge transformation in the organization. Question 5 Functional level strategy implemented by both company to enhance the distinctive competencies. Customer responsiveness, innovation, quality, superior efficiency can help companies to determine the differentiation of the product offering from other rivals. Functional level strategy can help in superior profitability. Functional level strategies of both company is to increase the efficiency of scale by cost reduction. This can be applicable by large number of output. Yahoo Company implements marketing strategy and R & D development. The key elements of research and development strategy procedure are process improvement and product innovation. Internal development and external acquisition are the other key essentials of the strategy. Marketing strategy is another functional level strategy which deals with the circulation, retailing and pricing of a product. Functional level strategies used by Amazon Company are human resource management strategy and research and development strategy. HRM strategy includes hire of skilled employees and trained employees. The recruiting of employees is key essentials for company. Employees are the most valuable assets of the company. The recruitment of skilled employees determines the success of the company. Innovation of product and improvement of the process are the important things of research and development strategy. The implementation of this strategy enables company to lower the cost. References Pailwoda, S. (2013). Perspectives on International Marketing. New Jersey: Pearson. Sakas, D. (2010). Marketing and management Science. New York: Springer. Wilson, D. (2009). Organizational Marketing. London: Sage. Read More