Organizational Structure of Yahoo

Yahoo! Organizational structure:

http://www.cogmap.com/chart/yahoo

The link above provides an organizational structure of Yahoo! After looking at the ten diagrams on organizational structures from the PowerPoint, it would seem that Yahoo appears to have a rather tall hierarchical structure consisting of the CEO, CFO, eight directors and other managers in charge of different departments and also of bureaucracy, in which orders are passed down along the chain of command. They possess major responsibilities and the authority of the delegation of tasks to their staff for the daily operations of the company. However, it would also mean that they would have a high level of accountability and would be held responsible for the success or failure of tasks. Furthermore, since Yahoo operates in many countries in the world, their structure could also be based on geography, as a result, it would allow the company to become more aware to local differences and consumer needs.

Yahoo also seems to have a more decentralized structure in which different decisions are made depending on various departments by the department director. It would result in a narrower span of control which makes communication between departments more effective within departments in the company.

EBay Steps Up Asian Expansion

1. Includes a link to the article.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2008/tc20080813_371494.htm

2. Includes a short summary of the article:

The article is about Electronic commerce giant, Ebay attempting to expand overseas and to increase its growth by acquiring a minority stake in in Korean e-commerce giant Gmarket worth $404 million as of Aug 12.

3. Identifies the topic(s) from our syllabus that the article covers.

1.7 – Growth and Evolution
- External Growth

4. Applies one business tool/theory/technique to the organization.

The article had shown that in order to increase competitiveness within the global market, expansion would be necessary. Therefore, I believe it was a wise strategy that it has made a decision to expand into the Asian market as development in developing countries, such as China that are increasing rapidly in recent years. By purchasing the stake, it would benefit the company in numerous ways. As the article mentioned, it would counter competition for Asian e-commerce from Yahoo and help to expand its core shopping business to new markets. This would also increase customer base resulting in more profit made. Due to the increased competition within the Asian market in recent years, such acquisition would also help E-bay to achieve its long-held aim of expanding beyond only U.S. and Europe.

The company’s decision to expand was because it was making profit and therefore can “lookout to make acquisitions to bolster its shopping business”. Although in this acquisition, e-Bay only purchased a minority stake, the company was successful in using it for acquisition or takeover even though e-Bay does not plan to acquire all of Gmarket yet.