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Yahoo Strategic Management Case Study

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The case examines the current problems facing Google during one of the worst economic environments since the Great Depression. Google was faced with stagnant net profits and employee turnover, while trying to maintain their culture of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation. The case was written for senior level undergraduate and MBA students in entrepreneurship and business strategy. It can be taught in one hour and twenty minutes. The amount of outside work to prepare for the case is expected to be at least four hours. The case outlines the history of the Silicon Valley titan, Google, Inc., and how it will navigate in one of the worst economic environments since the Great Depression. The case describes the current economic environment and then examines the history of the founders and the company. Google’s stages of growth, strategies, and its keys to success are then examined. Specific attention is paid to the location of the firm in regards to Silicon Valley and Stanford University. The latter part of the case focuses on the heart of the success of Google, corporate entrepreneurship and innovation. The case describes what corporate entrepreneurship and innovation is and how it is utilized within Google. The case ends with the founders asking the reader what recommendations they would make to Google to solve their problems.

In May 2009, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, co-founders of Google, Inc., were trying to determine how they were going to navigate Google through the worst recession since the Great Depression. Their primary problem was how to maintain the company’s culture of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation in the face of stagnant profits and a host of other issues. Google sought answers on how to increase corporate entrepreneurship and innovation during the worst economic environment that the company had ever experienced.

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Yahoo! The story of strategic mistakes

Jerry Yang  and  David Filo  founded  Yahoo  in  January 1994 . Both of them were Stanford graduates. At first, they developed a website named “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web”. It was simply a directory of other websites, organized in a hierarchy as a searchable index of pages.

By April 1994, Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web was renamed  “Yahoo! “. The word  “YAHOO”  is an acronym for  “ Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle “.  

Yahoo witnessed an enormous and rapid growth throughout the ’90s and diversified its business. It was poised to become a giant and a high profile company.

Yahoo provided a search engine and a directory for other websites in a time when people could only log into a website if they knew the website address. Else there was no way to search a website.

The company started making money from the advertising banners which was the first of its kind and started to grow rapidly. Yahoo went public  in April 1996 and its stock price rose by 600 percent within two years and by 1998, Yahoo was the most popular starting point for web users receiving 95 million page views per day.

Yahoo came up with a series of funny advertisements to popularize its search engine. Check this one out!!

Yahoo’s stock became investor’s darling during the dot.com bubble and once closed at an all-time high of $118.75 in 2000. Just after the dot.com bubble crash the stuck plunged to all time lowest (literrally) at $8.11.

Despite the tremendous performance of Yahoo at its early stages, the company started bleeding in the late 2000s due to multiple factors. Here are the top 6 reasons which resulted in Yahoo’s downfall:

Wrong decisions: Yahoo refused to buy Google for 1 million dollars:

Back in 1998, two individuals, Larry Page and Sergei Brin (Google founders), offered to sell their little startup algorithm to Yahoo for $1 million. The algorithm was supposed to help the Yahoo search engine perform faster and enhance the experience of web search.

Yahoo turned down the offer mainly because it wanted its users to spend more time on Yahoo’s own platform and the other Yahoo content so that it can make more money from the advertising banners on the website.

Again, in 2002 Yahoo rejected an offer to buy Google for $5 billion when the CEO Terry Semel  refused the deal after months of negotiation. Yahoo offered to buy Google at $3 billion but Google was keen on getting $5 billion. So the deal could never happened. (Thank God!!)

Failing to buy Facebook : 

As if saying no to Google was not enough for Yahoo . According to the book called The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick, Yahoo initially offered $1 billion to Facebook but later lowered it to $850 million. David writes that Facebook made its mind in 10 minutes to decline the offer. Although, some stories say that if the offer was submitted at $1.1 billion instead of $1 billion, the board of directors would’ve put pressure on Mark Zuckerberg to sell.

Unsuccessful acquisitions :

Even the successful acquisitions could not bring value to the organization. Yahoo acquired two companies in 1999 that are now ranked by Forbes as some of the  worst internet acquisitions  of all-time.

The first was a $4.58 billion deal for Geocities, a site that enabled users to build their own personal websites. While Geocities was a pioneer in this regard, it eventually  was shut down in 2009 after failing to deliver any value to Yahoo shareholders.

The second was the famous $5.7 billion deal for Broadcast.com, an online television site that was founded by Mark Cuban. Perhaps the idea was way ahead of its time and internet connections were too slow in 1999 to run this type of video content off the web..

Yahoo also bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion in 2013. Many Tumblr users were unhappy with this acquisition and started an online petition which got 170,000 signatures. Yahoo had to write down more than half of Tumblr by 2016 and ultimately sold it to Verizon.

Hiring wrong CEOs :

As experts say, Yahoo has repeatedly hired the wrong CEOs. None of the CEOs at Yahoo including Marissa Mayer had a “strategic vision” that could match what Eric Schmidt at Google brought. Some even blame Marissa Mayer entirely for the wrong decisions.

Lack of clear vision and a string of poor leaders :

It’s very clear from the strategic mistakes of Yahoo that its leadership lacked a clear vision and the overall purpose of the company. Meanwhile, Google and Microsoft were very clear about their strategic direction.

Yahoo was all over the place. During the research, people were asked to identify Yahoo with what first comes to their mind. Some said Mail , Some Media. Some said search. Clearly, Yahoo failed to create a niche for itself that its competitors successfully did.

Some former employees actually saw the slow demise of the company many years before it actually happened as they could see the bureaucratic culture with too much focus on advertising.

It became very difficult to get both investment and alignment. If you built a new product and the home page didn’t want to feature it, you were hosed. Greg Cohn, a former senior product director at Yahoo to Reuters

Declining Microsoft’s acquisition :

This was the final nail in the coffin. In 2008, Microsoft had shown its interest to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion but Yahoo declined that too (I really don’t know what they were thinking). Since then, the company market value has never reached such numbers. In 2016 Verizon bought Yahoo in a deal worth $4.8 billion.

Yahoo is still not dead though. It is still among the world’s top 10 websites with more than 3.5 billion visits per month . Nevertheless, its place does not augur well for a bright future. Unless Yahoo comes up with any innovation that can change the future of technology, Yahoo! may die gradually in the coming years. It’s a perfect story to learn where the company despite having the right technology and right resources at disposal, failed miserably due to its strategic mistakes.

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Yahoo Case study Solution Analysis

Yahoo case study.

News; there were a lot of reasons to visit the Yahoo website. However, currently, Yahoo is a shadow of its former self (Nordquist, 2017).

First, came the search engine Google, which became the preferred search engine for many. This is because the business model used by Google offered a lot of information to users of the search engine, as it used information created by others while Yahoo in a lot of ways created their own information. It is totally wrong for a business to blame a competitor for its problems, since Yahoo’s failure came from within the company.

Yahoo’s Problems

Flat-line growth – The company stopped growing, most of the users moved to other options, such as the Google search engine. By the time Yahoo was realizing its slow growth, it may have been a little too late to catch up. At one point in 2008, Microsoft tried to acquire Yahoo for $44.6 billion; a deal that Yahoo’s leadership declined hoping to find other buyers till Microsoft withdrew their offer. Now if Microsoft was to buy Yahoo, it would be for $4.8 billion (Nordquist, 2017).

Also Study: Online Business Marketing Plan and Strategies

Slim profits – Though Yahoo still makes profits to date, it could do better being some of the first successful companies that grew with the internet era. Yahoo makes its profits from shareholding at Alibaba.com and Yahoo Japan, and not so much from its main original services.

Poor or no strategy

Yahoo lacks a good strategy that can be used as a blueprint to success. Further, Yahoo lacks brand purpose and future brand vision. A company like Google has stuck by the same principles it made upon creation while Yahoo’s self description has changed 24 times in 24 years (Wharton, 2016). When Mayer’s became the CEO, she made efforts to gather young technology talents to revise the company strategy. Finding this expensive, she instead got to an acquisition binge for over $2.5 billion which has not benefited the company much (Nordquist, 2017). When comparing Yahoo’s strategy to that of Google, Yahoo is more of a media house than a search engine.

Poor leadership

Poor top leadership is probably one of the biggest contributors to Yahoo’s downfall. When Yahoo realized its downfall, it started appointing CEOs that would turnaround the company into something close to its old self. Though there were other CEOs who were appointed and left (4 CEO’s in 5 years), Marissa Mayer, is probably when Yahoo really got it wrong in terms of leadership. Yahoo viewed Mayer as the savior of the company yet all she brought it were the wrong strategies. For example, among her first activities as CEO was to personally participate in logo redesign and went on to acquire new technologies and companies for over $2.5 billion (Nordquist, 2017).

Poor organizational culture

Yahoo’s culture has been broken as a result of poor leadership. When Mayer took over leadership, she made the organization and the task of giving Yahoo a turnaround about herself, not about those she was leading. “If you dismiss the opinions of your team, don’t be shocked when they stop sharing their insight (Myatt, 2015). Under Mayer’s, leadership, top executives were leaving the company and it was losing its best talents. Mayer failed to sustain the strong and vibrant culture that Yahoo had before (Mattone, 2016). The biggest failure of leadership was from the board of directors for failing to notice how much Mayer’s was unsuited for the job since they observed her track record in technology and brand execution but not her ability to motivate and engage talent and maintain a vibrant culture (Mattone, 2016)

Yahoo Strategic Analysis

Yahoo SWOT Analysis

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of Yahoo

Threat of new entrants- medium to high.

In the recent past, there are low entry barriers thanks to the internet and technology advancement hence new entrants are coming up in a lot of areas that Yahoo is involved in; such as directories, mail, answers platforms etc. “Thus, scale economies may be less important in this context and new entrants can go to market with lower capital costs” (Dess, Lumpkin, & Eisner, 2007, p. 282).

Bargaining power of buyers- high

Buyers have low switching costs and the next seller is just a click away. “The internet and wireless technologies may increase buyer power by providing consumers with more information to make buying decisions and by lowering switching costs (Dess et al., 2007, p. 284). Buyers are also more informed and will know where to get a better version of everything.

Bargaining power of suppliers-high

Yahoo depends on existing technologies in order to improve its own. This means suppliers do have high bargaining power (Kasi, 2017). They also depend on sources of information, to feed their directories and search engines which and with the opportunities available in the industry for suppliers to sell their material, they do have high bargaining power.

Threat of substitutes- high

Substitutes have increased due to information available on the internet. Traditional media which is still usable today is another source of substitutes.

Competitive rivalry- high

This is one of the biggest threats to Yahoo; the intensity of competition on the internet is very high. The main competitor is Google which already has 83% market share. In other services that Yahoo offers, there is high competition such as directories, answers, etc.

Proposed Solutions

• Yahoo should update their strengths and build up a new strategy that is current in order to gain new and future customers
• With the resources they the company has, it can create new and efficient way to use their website such that they differentiate self from the rest
• Attract new talent that will suggest innovative ideas. For example, Terry Semel has implemented the concept of network optimization that has been a source of revenue and projected Yahoo’s other businesses in the industry.

Recommendations

Before committing to any activity, it is very important that Yahoo reviews its strategy. The strategy must consider the changes that have happened in the internet environment since the last one was created. It must also foresee the expectations of the people in the future. This information will feed Yahoo with a strategy that is not going to be obsolete in the next few years, but one that is sustainable in the long run.

References;

• Dess, G. G., Lumpkin, G. T., & Eisner, B. E. (2007). Strategic Management (3rd ed.). Irwin: McGraw-Hill.
• Kasi, A. (2017, June 1). Porter’s Five Forces Model for Yahoo . Retrieved from Porter Analysis: https://www.porteranalysis.com/porters-five-forces-model-of-yahoo/
• Mattone, J. (2016, March 28). Yahoo’s problem? A massive lack of leadership at the top . Retrieved from Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-mattone/yahoos-problem-a-massive-_b_9550092.html
• Myatt, M. (2015, November 20). Marissa Mayer: A case study of poor leadership . Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2015/11/20/marissa-mayer-case-study-in-poor-leadership/#2733db133b46
• Nordquist, B. (2017, August 2). So why was Yahoo worth $4.8 billion? Retrieved from Storage Craft: https://www.storagecraft.com/blog/verizon-purchase-yahoo/
• Wharton. (2016, Feb 23). A tale of two brands: Yahoo’s mistakes vc. Google Mastery . Retrieved from Wharton University of Pennsylvania: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/a-tale-of-two-brands-yahoos-mistakes-vs-googles-mastery/

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A Tale of Two Brands: Yahoo’s Mistakes vs. Google’s Mastery

February 23, 2016 • 9 min read.

While many theories have been offered to explain Yahoo's downfall in light of Google's ascent, the difference in the companies' brand approaches may be the most illuminating.

The latest upswing for Alphabet, parent company of Google, comes as fellow tech giant Yahoo is mired in increasing challenges to stay afloat. In this opinion piece, author and branding expert Denise Lee Yohn discusses the stark differences in, and impact of, each company’s approach to branding. Yohn is author of the book, What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest . She is also the former vice president/general manager of brand and strategy for Sony Electronics’ brand office and former marketing leader and analyst for Jack in the Box restaurants and Spiegel catalogs.

Less than two weeks after Google’s parent company, Alphabet, became the world’s most valuable public company, Yahoo put its core business up for sale . The contrast between the two companies couldn’t be sharper.

While many theories have been offered to explain Yahoo’s downfall in light of Google’s ascent, I would like to suggest that the difference in the companies’ brand approaches may be the most illuminating. While Google has mastered brand strategy and management, Yahoo has lacked a definitive brand purpose and future-oriented brand vision — and these deficits have led to key brand missteps including introducing an impotent visual identity.

Yahoo’s Confusion vs. Google’s Clarity

Google’s brand mission is well-known and well-established: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin crafted the mission in the company’s early years and, ever since, the organization has stayed committed to it. The statement is displayed front and center on Google’s “About” page and regularly appears in company communication. It has been used by many as a robust descriptor for the company and by employees as the driving force behind practically everything they do.

Yahoo’s brand mission isn’t so clear — actually it isn’t to be found. An official mission statement doesn’t exist on its site, and the statements I did uncover elsewhere were varied and often conflicting. The company lacks both a definitive, compelling description of what it does and why it does it.

According to one researcher who tracked Yahoo’s boilerplate for press releases, the company’s self-description changed 24 times in 24 years.

When Marissa Mayer took the reins at Yahoo, she was hailed as a visionary leader who would rescue the floundering company. But she failed her most important task: explaining — to investors, customers, employees and the world, really — why Yahoo should continue to exist.

To be fair, the company was started with a somewhat problematic mission. Two electrical engineering students at Stanford, David Filo and Jerry Yang, created it as a guide to keep track of their personal interests on the Internet. But over time the world outgrew the need for a single place to find useful websites, and one after another, Yahoo’s leaders failed to articulate an alternate enduring reason for the company’s being.

Mayer eventually tried. Late last fall, she commissioned a book to be distributed to Yahoo employees. It contains stories, images, quotes and messages about Yahoo’s past and its future, along with a new statement of the company’s mission, “To be an indispensable guide to digital information, yours and the world’s.” But it’s not a pithy point and it’s probably too late — and given the company’s track record, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it change again.

“While Google has mastered brand strategy and management, Yahoo has lacked a definitive brand purpose and future-oriented brand vision.”

Of course, mission statements, in and of themselves, are not really all that important. But organizations do need a clear and compelling sense of purpose. Leaders of great brands use brand purpose as a compass and engine for their organizations — driving, aligning and guiding everything they do. Without the long-term commitment to a definitive purpose, Yahoo has been rudderless.

Reacting at Yahoo vs. Anticipating at Google

Yahoo has also been vision-less. While many credit Mayer with leading the company’s transition to mobile, the shift was born out of necessity to catch up with the world, not out of opportunity to change it. In fact, Yahoo has been operating in reactive mode for the last decade. Even the new homepage design it recently introduced is merely an incremental evolution of its past designs and its latest attempt to mimic the popular features of other sites.

Yahoo doesn’t have a brand vision that would propel it forward, leapfrogging over existing realities and pushing the limits of what is possible. Mayer once described her vision for the company’s future saying, “As digital content becomes richer, as search and mail become richer, we need to change what the format of that guide is, as we move to mobile, wearables, TVs, cars, and all the other formats in the future. So, we’re focused on search, communications and digital content, all of which we think are incredibly important parts of that role as a guide, and those are the products that we’re investing in and building on.” Her statement merely reflects the company’s reactive stance to changes that it must address — not new growth opportunities it is creating for itself.

Compare this to the way Larry Page described his vision for the future when he introduced Alphabet as the holding company for Google and other entities: “We’ve long believed that over time companies tend to get comfortable doing the same thing, just making incremental changes. But in the technology industry, where revolutionary ideas drive the next big growth areas, you need to be a bit uncomfortable to stay relevant.” Alphabet, he went on to explain, is intended to give more support to businesses “far afield” from Google’s main Internet products, including glucose-sensing contact lenses, drone delivery and driverless cars.

“Mission statements, in and of themselves, are not really all that important. But organizations do need a clear and compelling sense of purpose.”

The introduction of Alphabet itself embodies the company’s future orientation and brand vision. Separating the Google brand from the organization’s more far-reaching efforts allows Google to remain aligned and focused on its brand mission and “un-hinders” from efforts that should have their own missions, such as Jigsaw, the new brand for the organization’s innovation lab. Having ditched the former name, Google Ideas, Jigsaw can freely pursue its mission — “to use technology to tackle the toughest geopolitical challenges, from countering violent extremism to thwarting online censorship to mitigating the threats associated with digital attacks” — without diluting or derailing the Google brand.

This kind of brand separation would have been useful for Yahoo to have established before the dire situation it now finds itself in. A separate brand might have protected Yahoo from the doubts involved with its decision to spin off its stake in ecommerce giant Alibaba, as well as the embarrassment when it reversed itself and shelved the plan. And now, the move to put the core business up for sale calls into question the future of the Yahoo brand as a whole and therefore the viability and vitality of any of the units that would remain after such a sale.

Again, it’s too late. Yahoo finds itself behind the brand eight-ball because it hasn’t created a future-oriented brand vision.

Yahoo Style vs. Google Substance

Without a powerful brand purpose to ground the company and a visionary brand ambition to advance it forward, it’s no surprise that Yahoo missed a critical opportunity when it changed its logo back in 2013.

Not only was the new logo design a mere update of the old version, but it also failed to communicate anything of substance. In her announcement of the new logo, Mayer said, “We knew we wanted a logo that reflected Yahoo — whimsical, yet sophisticated. Modern and fresh, with a nod to our history. Having a human touch, personal. Proud.” She went on to describe the design details of the new logo, explaining, for example why it didn’t incorporate straight lines, but she said nothing about how the change achieved any strategic objective or reflected any substantive change in the brand experience. Kathy Savitt, the company’s chief marketing officer at the time, explained that the new logo was intended to reflect the company’s “reimagined design and new experiences.” But I couldn’t figure out what she was referring to since no new experiences were incorporated into the logo or vice versa.

“When a company knows what it stands for and where it is going, it can focus its people and resources and have clarity in a range of decisions.”

While Yahoo’s identity refresh was simply about design and brand personality, Google’s new logo sent a clear message about the brand’s updated functionality. When Google introduced a sleeker, brighter, animated logo last year, it explained, “Once upon a time, Google was one destination that you reached from one device: a desktop PC. These days, people interact with Google products across many different platforms, apps and devices. Today we’re introducing a new logo and identity family that reflects this reality and shows you when the Google magic is working for you, even on the tiniest screens.” Moreover, Yahoo’s change seems self-serving whereas Google’s customer-orientation is clear.

The contrast between Yahoo and Google’s new visual identities illuminates the impact of brand purpose and vision. With them, visual identity changes are imbued with meaning and value; without them, they’re merely cosmetic exercises.

When a company knows what it stands for and where it is going, it can focus its people and resources and have clarity in a range of decisions. Not all of Yahoo’s problems originate from its brand failings, but if Google provides a fair comparison, it’s clear that more attention to Yahoo’s brand purpose and vision could have helped.

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Yahoos Company’s Strategic Management’ Success Case Study

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

A number of macroeconomics affect the search industry, but the shifting needs of consumers and the evolution of social platforms are the main factors. For instance, since the advent of Yahoo and Google, the search industry has undergone a radical transformation (Hill and Gareth 3). These days, people interact with the web through social channels such as Facebook.

Often, instead of searching for a site or information on Yahoo, people are turning to the social platform to get anything they want (Hill and Gareth 5). For instance, a business page on Facebook offers excellent results for an establishment. In fact, it is one of the best ways of finding information instead of navigating through different business websites, checking for the business hours, and tracking down the information.

Companies are also shifting from traditional platforms to social sites as they are good sites to net potential clients (Hill and Gareth 4). For instance, before the emergence of social platforms, many companies had signed with Yahoo to advertise their products, but they have reduced drastically today as a result of social platforms. In 2009, the revenue of Yahoo decreased by 13 percent as a result of the lack of use of its traditional advertising forms by companies.

Yahoos prospect for the future is still bright as it has competencies that give it a sustainable competitive advantage (Hill and Gareth 4). The diversification strategy of Yahoo is one of its great competencies. That is in as much as its stocks plunged in 2011; Yahoo owns or has a stake of more than 40 percent in Alibaba, a Chinese search engine, whose stocks increased. Also, acquisitions made by the company also give it an added advantage in the search industry (Hill and Gareth 4-5).

For instance, Rocket mail which attracts clients in the email line, GeoCities which offers webhosting services to registered users who share their information with friends on the internet, and in 2000, the company acquired an eGroup which is a social networking site that allow registered users to link and share their information with friends (Hill and Gareth 4). All these factors have enabled the company to stay ahead of the competition in the search industry.

The dominance of Google in the search engine industry accounted for about 60 percent of all United States searchers in 2011, whilst Yahoo! Search engine received 14percent, and Bing received about 13 percent (International Business News par. 2). In addition, Yahoo recorded a lot of success init core business, such as Relevance Engine and Content Optimization (Hill and Gareth 2-3). These segments are receiving a lot of attention at the moment, even though the company has not changed its technology (Watson par. 1). In 2012, Yahoo reported an increase of 270 percent in clicks putting it ahead of Google and Bing. Also, the deal with Bing saw the company’s visits rise to about 80 percent beating Google with almost 20 percent (International Business News par. 2).

With this, I had the money I still would invest in Yahoo. The decision to invest rests partly with its recent performances and, more so, its recent technology of personalizing its homepage (Hill and Gareth 5). This aspect has given people tailored information which has enhanced page views. Since page views have increased threefold, companies marketing their offering will follow suit, and Yahoo will pick again. When its deal with Alibaba is sustained, Yahoo in as much it may underperform in the US market, the Asian market will emerge to be its competence, and as such it will be able to deliver not only on clients demand but also on the shareholders demand (Hill and Gareth 4).

Works Cited

International Business News. Yahoo, Bing Yield ‘Higher Success Rate’ Than Google Search: Study . 2011. Web.

Hill, Charles and Jones Gareth. Strategic Management:An integrtaed Approach. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2013. Print.

Watson, Frank. Yahoo Content Behaviorally Targets Success . 2011. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2020, June 2). Yahoos Company's Strategic Management' Success. https://ivypanda.com/essays/yahoos-companys-strategic-management-success/

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IvyPanda . 2020. "Yahoos Company's Strategic Management' Success." June 2, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/yahoos-companys-strategic-management-success/.

1. IvyPanda . "Yahoos Company's Strategic Management' Success." June 2, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/yahoos-companys-strategic-management-success/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Yahoos Company's Strategic Management' Success." June 2, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/yahoos-companys-strategic-management-success/.

Science and tech

The surprising downfall of yahoo: a case study in corporate rise and fall.

Once synonymous with the dawn of the internet age, Yahoo was once a digital trailblazer, shaping the landscape of the World Wide Web. However, the journey of Yahoo is not just a narrative of triumphs; it is also a case study in the surprising downfall of a company that stood at the forefront of the tech revolution. In this blog, we explore the rise, zenith, and unexpected decline of Yahoo, dissecting the critical factors that led to its fall from grace.

1. Early Success and Dominance:

Founded in 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo, Yahoo began as a directory of websites. Its simple and intuitive interface quickly gained popularity, and by the late 1990s, Yahoo had become a dominant force in the emerging online world. Acquiring companies like Geocities and launching successful services like Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Finance, the company expanded rapidly, solidifying its position as an internet giant.

2. Missed Opportunities:

Despite its early success, Yahoo missed crucial opportunities that would later contribute to its downfall. One of the most significant lapses was its failure to acquire Google in 2002. Yahoo’s decision to turn down the chance to purchase Google for a mere $3 billion proved to be a monumental mistake, as Google went on to become the unrivaled powerhouse in the search engine market.

3. Leadership Instability:

Yahoo faced a series of leadership changes that introduced a sense of instability within the company. A revolving door of CEOs, each with their own strategies and visions, led to a lack of cohesive direction. The lack of a consistent and effective leadership structure hindered Yahoo’s ability to adapt to the rapidly changing tech landscape.

4. Decline in Advertising Revenue:

Yahoo’s business model heavily relied on advertising revenue, and its inability to keep pace with innovations in online advertising contributed significantly to its downfall. As Google and later Facebook rose to prominence with more effective targeted advertising platforms, Yahoo struggled to compete, leading to a decline in market share and revenue.

5. Cybersecurity Breaches:

In 2013 and 2014, Yahoo suffered two massive cybersecurity breaches that compromised the personal information of over one billion user accounts. The revelations of these breaches not only eroded user trust but also had severe financial implications. The incidents further tarnished Yahoo’s reputation and undermined its credibility in the eyes of both users and potential investors.

6. Failed Acquisitions and Restructuring Attempts:

Yahoo’s attempt to diversify and stay relevant through acquisitions faced numerous challenges. High-profile acquisitions, such as Tumblr and Flickr, failed to yield the expected results. Additionally, attempts at restructuring and rebranding were insufficient to reverse the company’s declining fortunes.

Conclusion:

The downfall of Yahoo is a cautionary tale in the fast-paced, ever-evolving tech industry. From missed opportunities and leadership instability to cybersecurity breaches and a failure to innovate, the company faced a perfect storm of challenges that ultimately led to its surprising decline. Yahoo’s legacy serves as a reminder for companies to stay agile, embrace innovation, and adapt to the evolving demands of the digital era. The rise and fall of Yahoo underscore the volatile nature of the tech landscape and the imperative for companies to remain vigilant, resilient, and attuned to the needs of their users in an ever-changing digital landscape.

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Strategy And Governance At Yahoo! Inc Case Study Solution Analysis

by HBR Thirty One

Strategy And Governance At Yahoo! Inc Case Study Solution Analysis. Get Strategy And Governance At Yahoo! Inc Case Study Analysis Solution. Contact us directly at buycasesolutions(at)gmail(dot)com if you want to order for Strategy And Governance At Yahoo!... More

Strategy And Governance At Yahoo! Inc Case Study Solution Analysis. Get Strategy And Governance At Yahoo! Inc Case Study Analysis Solution. Contact us directly at buycasesolutions(at)gmail(dot)com if you want to order for Strategy And Governance At Yahoo! Inc Case Solution, Case Analysis, Case Study Solution. Krishna G. Palepu, Suraj Srinivasan, David Lane, Ian McKown Cornell Less

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Case Study Solution Analysis Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Case Study Solution Analysis. Our tutors are available 24/7 to assist in your academic stuff, Our Professional writers are ready to serve you in services you need. Every Case Study Solution & Analysis is prepared from scratch, top quality, plagiarism free. Authors: Krishna G. Palepu, Suraj Srinivasan, David Lane, Ian McKown Cornell Get Case Study Solution and Analysis of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc in a FAIR PRICE!! Steps for Case Study Solution Analysis: 1. Introduction of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Case Solution The Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc case study is a Harvard Business Review case study, which presents a simulated practical experience to the reader allowing them to learn about real life problems in the business world. The Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc case consisted of a central issue to the organization, which had to be identified, analysed and creative solutions had to be drawn to tackle the issue. This paper presents the solved Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc case analysis and case solution. The method through which the analysis is done is mentioned, followed by the relevant tools used in finding the solution. The case solution first identifies the central issue to the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc case study, and the relevant stakeholders affected by this issue. This is known as the problem identification stage. After this, the relevant tools and models are used, which help in the case study analysis and case study solution. The tools used in identifying the solution consist of the SWOT Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, PESTEL Analysis, VRIO analysis, Value Chain Analysis, BCG Matrix analysis, Ansoff Matrix analysis, and the Marketing Mix analysis. The solution consists of recommended strategies to overcome this central issue. It is a good idea to also propose alternative case study solutions, because if the main solution is not found feasible, then the alternative solutions could be implemented. Lastly, a good case study solution also includes an implementation plan for the recommendation strategies. This shows how through a step-by-step procedure as to how the central issue can be resolved. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] 2. Problem Identification of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Case Solution Harvard Business Review cases involve a central problem that is being faced by the organization and these problems affect a number of stakeholders. In the problem identification stage, the problem faced by Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc is identified through reading of the case. This could be mentioned at the start of the reading, the middle or the end. At times in a case analysis, the problem may be clearly evident in the reading of the HBR case. At other times, finding the issue is the job of the person analysing the case. It is also important to understand what stakeholders are affected by the problem and how. The goals of the stakeholders and are the organization are also identified to ensure that the case study analysis are consistent with these. 3. Analysis of the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc HBR Case Study The objective of the case should be focused on. This is doing the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Case Solution. This analysis can be proceeded in a step-by- step procedure to ensure that effective solutions are found. In the first step, a growth path of the company can be formulated that lays down its vision, mission and strategic aims. These can usually be developed using the company history is provided in the case. Company history is helpful in a Business Case study as it helps one understand what the scope of the solutions will be for the case study. The next step is of understanding the company; its people, their priorities and the overall culture. This can be done by using company history. It can also be done by looking at anecdotal instances of managers or employees that are usually included in an HBR case study description to give the reader a real feel of the situation. Lastly, a timeline of the issues and events in the case needs to be made. Arranging events in a timeline allows one to predict the next few events that are likely to take place. It also helps one in developing the case study solutions. The timeline also helps in understanding the continuous challenges that are being faced by the organisation. 4. SWOT analysis of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc An important tool that helps in addressing the central issue of the case and coming up with Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc HBR case solution is the SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis is a strategic management tool that lists down in the form of a matrix, an organisation's internal strengths and weaknesses, and external Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] opportunities and threats. It helps in the strategic analysis of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Once this listing has been done, a clearer picture can be developed in regards to how strategies will be formed to address the main problem. For example, strengths will be used as an advantage in solving the issue. Therefore, the SWOT analysis is a helpful tool in coming up with the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Case Study answers. One does not need to remain restricted to using the traditional SWOT analysis, but the advanced TOWS matrix or weighted average SWOT analysis can also be used. 5. Porter Five Forces Analysis for Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Another helpful tool in finding the case solutions is of Porter's Five Forces analysis. This is also a strategic tool that is used to analyse the competitive environment of the industry in which Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc operates in. Analysis of the industry is important as businesses do not work in isolation in real life, but are affected by the business environment of the industry that they operate in. Harvard Business case studies represent real-life situations, and therefore, an analysis of the industry's competitive environment needs to be carried out to come up with more holistic case study solutions. In Porter's Five Forces analysis, the industry is analysed along 5 dimensions. • These are the threats that the industry faces due to new entrants. • It includes the threat of substitute products. • It includes the bargaining power of buyers in the industry. • It includes the bargaining power of suppliers in an industry. • Lastly, the overall rivalry or competition within the industry is analysed This tool helps one understand the relative powers of the major players in the industry and its overall competitive dynamics. Actionable and practical solutions can then be developed by keeping these factors into perspective. 6. PESTEL Analysis of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Another helpful tool that should be used in finding the case study solutions is the PESTEL analysis. This also looks at the external business environment of the organisation helps in finding case study Analysis to real-life business issues as in HBR cases. • The PESTEL analysis particularly looks at the macro environmental factors that affect the industry. These are the political, environmental, social, technological, environmental and legal (regulatory) factors affecting the industry. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] • Factors within each of these 6 should be listed down, and analysis should be made as to how these affect the organisation under question. 7. VRIO Analysis of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc This is an analysis carried out to know about the internal strengths and capabilities of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc . Under the VRIO analysis, the following steps are carried out: • The internal resources of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc are listed down. • Each of these resources are assessed in terms of the value it brings to the organization. • Each resource is assessed in terms of how rare it is. A rare resource is one that is not commonly used by competitors. • Each resource is assessed whether it could be imitated by competition easily or not. • Lastly, each resource is assessed in terms of whether the organization can use it to an advantage or not. • The analysis done on the 4 dimensions; Value, Rareness, Imitability, and Organization. If a resource is high on all of these 4, then it brings long-term competitive advantage. If a resource is high on Value, Rareness, and Imitability, then it brings an unused competitive advantage. If a resource is high on Value and Rareness, then it only brings temporary competitive advantage. If a resource is only valuable, then it’s a competitive parity. If it’s none, then it can be regarded as a competitive disadvantage. 8. Value Chain Analysis of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc The Value chain analysis of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc helps in identifying the activities of an organization, and how these add value in terms of cost reduction and differentiation. This tool is used in the case study analysis as follows: • The firm’s primary and support activities are listed down. • Identifying the importance of these activities in the cost of the product and the differentiation they produce. • Lastly, differentiation or cost reduction strategies are to be used for each of these activities to increase the overall value provided by these activities. Recognizing value creating activities and enhancing the value that they create allow Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc to increase its competitive advantage. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] 9. BCG Matrix of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc The BCG Matrix is an important tool in deciding whether an organization should invest or divest in its strategic business units. The matrix involves placing the strategic business units of a business in one of four categories; question marks, stars, dogs and cash cows. The placement in these categories depends on the relative market share of the organization and the market growth of these strategic business units. The steps to be followed in this analysis is as follows: • Identify the relative market share of each strategic business unit. • Identify the market growth of each strategic business unit. • Place these strategic business units in one of four categories. Question Marks are those strategic business units with high market share and low market growth rate. Stars are those strategic business units with high market share and high market growth rate. Cash Cows are those strategic business units with high market share and low market growth rate. Dogs are those strategic business units with low market share and low growth rate. • Relevant strategies should be implemented for each strategic business unit depending on its position in the matrix. The strategies identified from the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc BCG matrix and included in the case pdf. These are either to further develop the product, penetrate the market, develop the market, diversification, investing or divesting. 10. Ansoff Matrix of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Ansoff Matrix is an important strategic tool to come up with future strategies for Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc in the case solution. It helps decide whether an organization should pursue future expansion in new markets and products or should it focus on existing markets and products. • The organization can penetrate into existing markets with its existing products. This is known as market penetration strategy. • The organization can develop new products for the existing market. This is known as product development strategy. • The organization can enter new markets with its existing products. This is known as market development strategy. • The organization can enter into new markets with new products. This is known as a diversification strategy. The choice of strategy depends on the analysis of the previous tools used and the level of risk the organization is willing to take. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] 11. Marketing Mix of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc needs to bring out certain responses from the market that it targets. To do so, it will need to use the marketing mix, which serves as a tool in helping bring out responses from the market. The 4 elements of the marketing mix are Product, Price, Place and Promotions. The following steps are required to carry out a marketing mix analysis and include this in the case study analysis. • Analyse the company’s products and devise strategies to improve the product offering of the company. • Analyse the company’s price points and devise strategies that could be based on competition, value or cost. • Analyse the company’s promotion mix. This includes the advertisement, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and direct marketing. Strategies will be devised which makes use of a few or all of these elements. • Analyse the company’s distribution and reach. Strategies can be devised to improve the availability of the company’s products. 12. Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Strategy The strategies devised and included in the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc case memo should have a strategy. A strategy is a strategy that involves firms seeking uncontested market spaces, which makes the competition of the company irrelevant. It involves coming up with new and unique products or ideas through innovation. This gives the organization a competitive advantage over other firms, unlike a red ocean strategy. 13. Competitors analysis of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc The PESTEL analysis discussed previously looked at the macro environmental factors affecting business, but not the microenvironmental factors. One of the microenvironmental factors are competitors, which are addressed by a competitor analysis. The Competitors analysis of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc looks at the direct and indirect competitors within the industry that it operates in. • This involves a detailed analysis of their actions and how these would affect the future strategies of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc . • It involves looking at the current market share of the company and its competitors. • It should compare the marketing mix elements of competitors, their supply chain, human resources, financial strength etc. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] • It also should look at the potential opportunities and threats that these competitors pose on the company. 14. Organisation of the Analysis into Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Case Study Solution Once various tools have been used to analyse the case, the findings of this analysis need to be incorporated into practical and actionable solutions. These solutions will also be the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc case answers. These are usually in the form of strategies that the organisation can adopt. The following step-by-step procedure can be used to organise the Harvard Business case solution and recommendations: • The first step of the solution is to come up with a corporate level strategy for the organisation. This part consists of solutions that address issues faced by the organisation on a strategic level. This could include suggestions, changes or recommendations to the company's vision, mission and its strategic objectives. It can include recommendations on how the organisation can work towards achieving these strategic objectives. Furthermore, it needs to be explained how the stated recommendations will help in solving the main issue mentioned in the case and where the company will stand in the future as a result of these. • The second step of the solution is to come up with a business level strategy. The HBR case studies may present issues faced by a part of the organisation. For example, the issues may be stated for marketing and the role of a marketing manager needs to be assumed. So, recommendations and suggestions need to address the strategy of the marketing department in this case. Therefore, the strategic objectives of this business unit (Marketing) will be laid down in the solutions and recommendations will be made as to how to achieve these objectives. Similar would be the case for any other business unit or department such as human resources, finance, IT etc. The important thing to note here is that the business level strategy needs to be aligned with the overall corporate strategy of the organisation. For example, if one suggests the organisation to focus on differentiation for competitive advantage as a corporate level strategy, then it can't be recommended for the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Case Study Solution that the business unit should focus on costs. • The third step is not compulsory but depends from case to case. In some HBR case studies, one may be required to analyse an issue at a department. This issue may be analysed for a manager or employee as well. In these cases, recommendations need to be made for these people. The solution may state that objectives that these people need to achieve and how these objectives would be achieved. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] The case study analysis and solution, and Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc case answers should be written down in the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc case memo, clearly identifying which part shows what. The Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc case should be in a professional format, presenting points clearly that are well understood by the reader. 15. Alternate solution to the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc HBR case study It is important to have more than one solution to the case study. This is the alternate solution that would be implemented if the original proposed solution is found infeasible or impossible due to a change in circumstances. The alternate solution for Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc is presented in the same way as the original solution, where it consists of a corporate level strategy, business level strategy and other recommendations. 16. Implementation of Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Case Solution The case study does not end at just providing recommendations to the issues at hand. One is also required to provide how these recommendations would be implemented. This is shown through a proper implementation framework. A detailed implementation framework helps in distinguishing between an average and an above average case study answer. A good implementation framework shows the proposed plan and how the organisations' resources would be used to achieve the objectives. It also lays down the changes needed to be made as well as the assumptions in the process. • A proper implementation framework shows that one has clearly understood the case study and the main issue within it. • It shows that one has been clarified with the HBR fundamentals on the topic. • It shows that the details provided in the case have been properly analysed. • It shows that one has developed an ability to prioritise recommendations and how these could be successfully implemented. • The implementation framework also helps by removing out any recommendations that are not practical or actionable as these could not be implemented. Therefore, the implementation framework ensures that the solution to the Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc Harvard case is complete and properly answered. 17. Recommendations and Action Plan for Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc case analysis Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] For Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc, based on the SWOT Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, PESTEL Analysis, VRIO analysis, Value Chain Analysis, BCG Matrix analysis, Ansoff Matrix analysis, and the Marketing Mix analysis, the recommendations and action plan are as follows: • Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc should focus on making use of its strengths identified from the VRIO analysis to make the most of the opportunities identified from the PESTEL. • Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc should enhance the value creating activities within its value chain. • Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc should invest in its stars and cash cows, while getting rid of the dogs identified from the BCG Matrix analysis. • To achieve its overall corporate and business level objectives, it should make use of the marketing mix tools to obtain desired results from its target market. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email.

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Yahoo! case: the fall

In the early days of Internet search engines and email pages, Yahoo! was one of the giants. From the beginning, it was outlined to achieve a great future, but due to bad decisions made throughout its history, the company, today, does not have much weight on the Internet and has been sold for much fewer dollars than in a time had been offered.

In this case study, we are going to talk about the history of Yahoo! and what were the key decisions that led this company to its decline instead of leading it to the success that it seemed it was going to have.

<<< Case study Blockbuster: Why is it necessary to innovate? >>>

What is the history of Yahoo!?

The company was born in 1994 , like most companies in the United States, in a small office or shed of some university, from the idea of university classmates. In this case, it was in a small office at Stanford University that Jerry Yang and David Filo created a directory of Internet pages to facilitate the search for information and websites. We must bear in mind that we are talking about the first half of the 90s when the Internet was not yet so installed in our lives and a few years ago web pages began to emerge.

In 1995, the yahoo.com domain was created , having exceeded 100,000 daily visits in 1994 . In this way, its founders managed to get a venture capital company to invest a million dollars in them and from there venture into novelties that were not yet so exploited in the virtual world. In 1996 Yahoo went public.

From that moment, the company began to grow abysmally . Incorporated Yahoo! mail, games, pagers, and yahoo messenger, among other actions that led it to position itself as one of the companies of the moment. For a long period, Yahoo! was growing, increasing its numbers and employees. It was part of the boom of internet pages that occurred between 1997 and 2001.

<<< Netflix case: disruptive business model >>>

When did their mistakes start?

In 1998 Google emerged , the company that years later would be one of the main nightmares of Yahoo!. In its beginnings, today's giant Google asked for financing from Yahoo! and it refused to give it. We could say that this was one of the first mistakes.

During the first years of development, both companies coexisted, but as Google gained ground, Yahoo! went from being a provider of services on the web to being an advertising portal that was increasingly relegated to what the competition allowed it to access.

In 2007 , one of the most serious mistakes of the company Yahoo! is committed. The owners of Google do not rule out selling their company, and Yahoo! offered 3,000 million dollars, but unfortunately, they could not acquire it because the amount that Page and Brin asked for was 5,000 million. Yahoo! did not make any other offer and lost one of the great opportunities that it would have had to gain much more ground in virtuality.

Another of the mistakes that condemned this company was the missed opportunity to buy Doubleclick , an online advertising company, which was later bought by Google and through which it was able to take a big step in terms of online advertising. What also unseated Yahoo! in this area of development.

Later, Yahoo! also had the opportunity to buy Facebook. In 2006 , the social media company did not have the weight it has today, but its imminent growth could be seen coming. Zuckerberg was asking for something like $1 billion, but Yahoo! decided to offer 850 million and did not agree to buy it.

Microsoft , another technology giant, in 2008, offered the owners of Yahoo! to buy the company for more than 44,000 million dollars, much more money than it was worth at the time. But, again, Yahoo! made the wrong decision and turned down the offer. Even more incredible is that years later, Microsoft asked them for permission to use their search engine (Bing), and Yahoo! allowed it. Let's say it gave them something for free that, years before, they had offered billions of dollars for.

<<< Spotify case: The importance of user experience >>>

Other problems faced by the company

Cybersecurity today is one of the main issues that every technology company must guarantee, but in the case of Yahoo!, this has failed . Numerous times the company has acknowledged having suffered cyberattacks that generated data loss and leaks that involved user accounts. This took away the credibility of its security and, of course, caused many users to migrate to other offers. It has even admitted to creating software at the request of the US intelligence service, to obtain information from users' emails.

In addition to security problems, the company has suffered from organizational problems . In its years of history, it has had 7 different executive directors and almost none of them deviates from having made a significant mistake for the company. One of them even admitted having lied about the information on his CV.

In 2012 Marisa Mayer joined, who had previously worked at Google and came to Yahoo! hoping to revitalize the company but she didn't make it. It was she who in 2016 announced the sale of it to Verizon , for an amount of just over 4,000 million dollars , something that a few years before could have been much more.

<<< Zappos case: the best customer service >>>

As we see, the company Yahoo! has been successful in its first years , due to not having too much competition in the market, but as soon as a company of the same weight arrived, it was completely overshadowed by it and did not have enough maturity to make strategic decisions correctly, which led to its decline. The role of executive directors is very important when making decisions and also organizing the company itself, but this is something that could not be achieved. Their high turnover is a point that did not contribute at all to their growth.

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Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

• Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
• Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
• The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
• Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
• A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
• Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
• The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010