The Ebay Phinomenon

Theme:

Business Secrets behind the World's Hottest Internet Company. The book tells us about the real story and gives us the inside story of how an innovative strategies can lead a company to become one of the Web's top businesses.

eBay invented a new industry, creating an exciting, original paradigm for digital commerce. This book taps into the dynamics and strategies that have made eBay one of the most profitable e-commerce companies in business today and reveals how eBay customers have prospered and profited from the site.

Objective:

The book gives insight into the dynamics and strategies that have made eBay one of the most profitable E-commerce companies in business today and reveals how eBay customers have prospered and profited from the site.

The book portrays eBay's picture as one of the most innovative, daring, customer-centric companies even though being on the internet with really no physical interaction between the seller and the buyer. It demonstrates how a small group of people can listen to customers and reinvent the world-inspiring and inculcate into them a belief of belonging to the company.

It tells the readers how a company which was nothing more than a spic of dust on the vast canvas of the world wide net becomes such a dominating force on the internet.

Summary:

ebay started as a hobby/experiment by Pierre Omidyar (founder) and latter transformed it into great success.

The book starts of with the introduction of a seller Frank Miller, who trades his old belongings over the internet using eBay website for the first time and is pretty much satisfied with it. It goes on to show how eBay transformed the whole concept of trading on internet and especially auction. Starting with a bit of the background of how the company started to the present day scenario of trading more than $240 million dollars on one particular instance.

A very significant aspect of the company's founder, Pierre Omidyar, is stated in the book; he went on to have a CEO for his company even though it was working fine. He was open to idea that it's not important for him to be the CEO of the company but doing thing that was necessary for the growth of the company.

The customers, both the sellers and the buyers, were considered an important part of the eBay community. They tried to inculcate a sense of belonging within the customers and develop that trust within them which was the essence of its huge success.

The working model of the company in this book which really makes the readers understand how and why it transformed in a great success in such a short time.

This book gives the reader an insight into how a real internet company works, its partners and suppliers, the view points of the investors and the lessons that we could learn

from the business model of ebay. Not only does the author give details of the ups and downs of ebay in it's climb to the top of the auction site ladder, but he also includes the business models used that help get it there.

The main focus of the company was on speed and time. It really emphasized on going for the kill at the right speed and at the right time. eBay adopted a small size in terms of headcount which made the traditional approach towards management redundant. Some of the new concepts of 80/20 mindset, recognize opportunity etc. was adopted by the company to attain success. For the first time a dot com company went ahead with brand building, customer acquisition and retention, outsourcing of key functions and strategic alliances.

At the end the book gives a sneak preview of the many ups and downs of the company and finally the future plans of the company.

Critical Appraisal

The Internet in the mid-1990s changed the face of modern society and how we conduct much of our daily lives. Far more than just a pop- or subculture phenomenon, e-mail hocked us to our computers, and online shopping drastically shortened our trips to the mall.

The movement from small specialty stores to online retailers is a strong one and it is changing the way the people shop for everything from movies and music to books, electronics, clothing and household items. Instead of going in the car and spending hours leafing through brochures and talking to often-overburdened salespeople at a brick-and-mortar shop, now you could jump on the Net, casually research products, read online user reviews and educate yourself prior to even entering the "store" and filling your virtual shopping cart.

The book uncovers two key decisions - firstly Pierre Omidyar leaving his post of CEO and recruiting an outsider as the CEO of the company and secondly the importance paid towards customers which really helped the company's phenomenal growth.

Some of the newest human resources management techniques were adopted at eBay. Recognize Opportunity, new business model, radiate vision, 80/20 mindset, getting the right stuff done and organizational improvisers were few