eBay Business Strategy For Implementing Innovative Ideas

Question

Task: You are required to write a 2000-word report for a novel business proposal you have developed. The business proposal must build upon your value proposition developed in assessment 1 for the existing business or organisation selected in assessment 1. You must use appropriate headings to structure the body of the report.

Your report must demonstrate:

1. Logical and persuasive articulation of: business model description; value proposition development; business operations development; supply chain development; competitive advantage; financial value capture and strategic fit (this includes elements 5 to 10 in the disciplined entrepreneurship canvas by Aulet (2017, p. xviii) and elements 3 to 9 in the business model canvas by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010, pp. 16-41)).
2. Logical and persuasive argumentation in regard to how assumptions and uncertainties related to: customer desirability; technical feasibility; and financial viability have been addressed to date and how they will be addressed in the future as described in a phased development plan.
3. Logical and persuasive argumentation for the selection of the innovation tools and techniques used to support the report findings and recommendations. These must be beyond the tools and techniques used in assessment 1. Minimum eight (8) additional tools and techniques must be selected from the unit textbooks and online materials.
4. Logical and persuasive application of the selected innovation tools and techniques used to support the report findings and recommendations. These must be different to the tools and techniques used in assessment 1. Minimum eight (8) additional tools and techniques must be applied from the unit textbooks and materials. Illustrations of the tool usage details can be included in the appendix.
5. Candid and critical self-analysis about assessment 2 tasks including: a reflection on the development of personal innovation capabilities and practices; identification of own personal strengths and weaknesses; supported with examples of own behaviour.
6. Clear flow of thought throughout the report with: a convincing executive summary; clear and succinct purpose described in the introduction; relevant structure and content within the body of the report; and a clear and succinct conclusion.
7. Critical review skills and integration of relevant academic and professional literature. A minimum of ten (10) academic and professional references must be used.
8. Appropriate in-text referencing and reference list. Adherence to CQUniversity APA reference style.
9. Clarity of expression, grammar and spelling. Appropriate report format with good use of bullet points, illustrations and figures. Within ±10% of the word limit for report, excluding references and appendices: 2000 words.

Answer

Executive summary:
This report will be based on analyzing the eBay business strategy which would be essential for implementing the new innovative strategies. The background of the plan will be provided and then, there will be descriptions of the business model, value preposition and business operations. Focus will be given on assessing the area of competitive advantage, financial value and supply chain. The uncertainties in the implementation will be assessed and addressed. Then different tools will be selected for assessing the innovation of the business. A critical analysis on eBay business strategy will be provided followed by the recommendations on the proper implementation of the innovative strategy.

Introduction:
Background: This report is about the development of business proposal for eBay business strategy. This e-commerce organization is currently facing huge competitions from other companies such as Amazon and Flipkart. Therefore; it has become extremely important for eBay to implement innovation in the business model and value proposition (Souto, 2015). It will be important for the company to use some important tools which can help in assessing the current market position and then, develop the innovative plan which will help in ensuring sustainability in the competitive market. In the course of developing a business proposal, it will be also important to assess the financial market and further focus on the development of the supply chain of the business. All these requirements would help the company to meet with the objectives on business sustainability.

Scope: This report of eBay business strategy would provide the recommendations on the use of innovative business models and about the processes that can be used for business development. This will also help the company to identify the key resources and key partners for enhancing the supply chain. It will help in identifying the customer segments and would suggest the important requirements for maintaining customer relationship.

Objectives: The key objectives of this report are:

• To identify the useful business models which can help the company to sustain in the market
• To identify the resources which can be utilized by the company to bring in innovation in the business
• To identify proper customer segments and key partners for the business
• To assess the important tools which can help in developing the new eBay business strategy for the company

Business model descriptions: There are various business models that organizations use for ensuring the proper sustainability in the market. The business model of eBay business strategy is that of a retailer and e-commerce. Online market place is also a business model which the company needs to follow. Therefore; these three business models are the important for the success of the company in the aspect of enhancing the innovation and sustainability. As a retailer, it will be the responsibility of eBay to take orders for various brands and deliver those to the respective customers. E-commerce is already the model that has been undertaken by the company successfully since its formation. Online marketplace is the model in which eBay can attract more partners who would be able to sell their brands in order to increase the availability of various products under the product catalogues of the company (Tauscher & Laudien, 2018). In the aspect of bringing in innovative strategies, it will be important to give importance to the value chain by which all these three business models can be maintained with success. The business model description can be further utilized with the use of business model canvas.

One of the elements of this eBay business strategy model is key partners and is associated with the partnering companies that can assist in the growth of the business. Key activities and key resources are the important requirements which can help in implementing the business model with success. The value preposition would describe the values that the new model can provide in the business of eBay. Customer relationship and segments describe the different groups of customers that will be considered for the business and the way the relationship can be maintained with them (Hassan et al., 2015). Channels will be used for marketing the business like digital and social media marketing for eBay business strategy. The cost structure and revenue streams would determine the financial value of the model. The description of the business model canvas for eBay is given in Appendix 1.

Value preposition development: The value preposition for this study of eBay business strategy will describe the key resources and the capabilities that eBay will require in the process of developing the new business model.

Business operations development: It has been identified in this study of eBay business strategy that virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality will be used for developing the features of online shopping for the customers. These technologies will help in assisting the customers to find and make choices for the favourite products with ease. Then, an own payment gateway will assist the customers to choose their debit and credit card and do the online shopping with ease. Further, the features of cash on delivery or COD can be also used for the ease of the customers on shopping without the concern about the online payment system of the company (Upadhyay, Pathak & Singh, 2017). In terms of capability, it is mentioned in this study of eBay business strategy that it would be important to strengthen the IT team of the company so that the technical resources can be used effectively. Proper change management is required to be implemented so that the changes can be executed effectively. In this regard, it will be important to induce leadership capability for the management of the teams. 

How supply chain development impact eBay business strategy?
In the process of developing the supply chain of the business, it would be important to have some effective partners. In this regard, partners would be the courier companies which would courier the products to the warehouses. Then, partnership can be made with some of the retail companies whose products would be sold through the online portal of eBay. This would help eBay to increase its sales and profit margins. Along with this, the partnership can be also made with an IT organization which would help in maintaining the IT requirements. All the partners can be utilized effectively in the new business model and can help in reaching the objectives of the new business plan effectively. In case of eBay, it would be important to give importance on enhancing the supply and in this process, use of virtual reality, Mixed reality and augmented reality can be extremely effective (Whiskard et al., 2018). It would help the company to have real time access to the information and data shared by the partners.

Financial value capture:
With the execution of virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality, it would be possible to reduce the time of managing the supply chain. Along with this benefit provided in this study of eBay business strategy, it would be also possible to attract more customers. This would be possible due to the fact that customers would be able to get the access to the product catalogues in a more user friendly way. The time for accessing and searching for the particular products will be reduced significantly and the customization for the customers can also be made effectively. Customers would be able to find the options in accordance to their choices. They would be able to check the details of the products in a real environment. This facility would be able to increase the capability of the design of the website and the application of the company to be more customer friendly which in turn would help in attracting more customers (Cai et al., 2018). It will be even possible to enhance the communication with the partners. All these features would certainly help the company to increase the financial growth significantly. The cost of implementation of the new business mentioned in this study of eBay business strategy thus can be recovered with ease and this would help the company to have a significant financial growth in the near future.

Competitive advantage:
With the use of virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality, the benefits would be in the term of the increase of the brand value of the company. This is because with the implementation of these technologies, eBay would be able to differentiate its own services with the competitors such as Amazon and Flipkart and then, it would be possible to attract the customers with innovative and unique services (Kumar et al., 2016). Customer loyalty can increase significantly as the customers would be automatically remain attracted to these unique features and ease of shopping through the online platform of the company.

Strategic fit:
In terms of assessing the strategic fit for eBay business strategy, it would be important to assess the customer acquisition as well. The reason is that it would important to derive the proper value of the investment that would be based on acquisition of the customers. In terms of unit economics, it would be important to assess the proper value of the investment in the new business model so that the cost can be recovered effectively (Gonzalez-Rivera, 2016). Sales of the products are going to be the important tasks and for this, the strategy will be made as such that the cost of the supply chain and other processes can be recovered with ease. The overall economics need to be considered in the process of implementing the new model and for gaining the required sales revenue after the implementation. The designing and development of the model for eBay business strategy is going to be important as well. The strategies on these requirements need to be developed as such that the benefits for the customers can be given most importance. Lastly, the scaling of the business model is going to be important as well.

Identification and assessment of assumptions and uncertainties:
In case of assumptions on the implementation of the new model, it needs to be ensured that the model would bring in the competitive advantage for the company along with increasing the aspect of enhancing the usability of the services for the customers. The business model for eBay business strategy can help the company to increase the number of customers and also retain them with success with innovative services.

 In terms of uncertainties, it would be important to reduce the risks involved in customer desirability, financial viability and technical feasibility. This is because uncertainty in these aspects can result in the failure of the implementation of the model.

Phased development plan to address uncertainties:
In terms of addressing uncertainties on customer desirability, feedbacks on the plan would be taken from the customers and their current issues would be analyzed (Mutansir et al., 2018). Then the eBay business strategy would be made as such that those issues can be mitigated successfully with the help of the new model. In this regard, user and expert interview can become an important technique (Appendix 3) In case of addressing the technical feasibility, it would be ensured that the required technological resources would be used for implementing virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality. For financial viability, it will be ensured that the investment for the new model would be beneficial for the company in terms of brining the required values in the business.

Selection of innovation tools:
For assessing the innovation in eBay business strategy, 8 tools have been selected and among those, the business model canvas would be useful for finding the key resources, target customers and channels. SWOT analysis would be useful for analyzing the strategic position of the company after implementation of the model. User and expert interview would help in analyzing the point of view of the stakeholders before implementing the model. Value preposition canvas has already been used in this study and highlighted the value chain of the business. Feedback would be taken from the customers regarding their perceptions on the new model. Brainstorming would be used for generating different ideas on finding the solutions to the current issues and about the implementation of the technologies. Porter’s 5 forces would be useful for assessing the impact of the external forces in eBay business strategy (Takata, 2016). Last of all, customer journey canvas is going to be an important tool for assessing the usability for the customers from their perceptions.

Candid and critical self-analysis:
In terms of using the new technologies for enhancement of the business process of eBay business strategy, I believe that the model is going to be extremely efficient for the company. The reason is that it would help in differentiating the services with other companies. Customers could avail innovative services, which would help the company to retain them successfully. In case of enhancing the personal innovation capabilities, it would be important to understand about the new technologies, which can assist in implementing the innovative ideas. For making this possible, it would be important for to conduct market research which in turn can assist me to identify those technologies which can help in developing innovative strategies. One of my strengths is the self-learning capacity. The other strength is to self-adapt with different business requirements. However; one of my core weaknesses is that I do not posses critical thinking capability and that is reason why it takes time for me to conduct market research with effectiveness.

Conclusions and references:
This report thus successfully assessed the eBay business strategy which is required for implementing the new business model. Along with this, some of the key innovation tools have been identified which can help in enhancing the capability of the company on implementing the innovative strategies. Focus has been given on the development of value preposition and business operations. A self-reflection has been provided based on the development of the innovation model.

It will be important for eBay to analyze the market of e-commerce and the identified technologies before implementing the model. Along with this, it would be also important to identify the proper customer segments and the partners for whom the innovation can be implemented with success. The tools that have been identified in this study of eBay business strategy can be extremely effective and can help the company to develop the strategies with perfection.

References:
Cai, L., He, X., Dai, Y., & Zhu, K. (2018, September). eBay business strategy. Research on B2B2C E-commerce Website Design Based on User Experience. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1087, No. 6, p. 062043). IOP Publishing.

González-Rivera, G. (2016). Forecasting for Economics and Business: Instructor's Review Copy. Routledge.

Hassan, R. S., Nawaz, A., Lashari, M. N., & Zafar, F. (2015). Effect of customer relationship management on customer satisfaction. Procedia economics and finance, 23, 563-567.

 Kumar, K. N., Chandra, S., Bharati, S., & Manava, S. (2016, June). Factors Influencing Adoption of Augmented Reality Technology for E-Commerce. In PACIS (p. 342).

Mustansir, A., Shahzad, K., Muzaffar, S. I., & Malik, K. (2018, September). Utilizing customer feedback for business process performance analysis. In International Conference on Business Informatics Research (pp. 235-249). Springer, Cham.

Souto, J. E. (2015). Business model innovation and business concept innovation as the context of incremental innovation and radical innovation. Tourism Management, 51, 142-155.

Takata, H. (2016). Effects of industry forces, market orientation, and marketing capabilities on business performance: An empirical analysis of Japanese manufacturers from 2009 to 2011. eBay business strategy. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5611-5619.

Täuscher, K., & Laudien, S. M. (2018). Understanding platform business models: A mixed methods study of marketplaces. European Management Journal, 36(3), 319-329.

Upadhyay, A., Pathak, A., & Singh, N. (2017). eBay business strategy. Evolution of online shopping: E-commerce. Evolution, 3(6).

Whiskard, H., Jones, D., Voller, S., Snider, C., Gopsill, J., & Hicks, B. (2018, July). Mixed Reality tools as an enabler for improving Operation and Maintenance in Small and Medium Enterprises. In IFIP International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management (pp. 3-14). Springer, Cham.

Appendix: 1
Business model canvas for eBay business strategy:

Appendix 2:
SWOT:

Appendix 3:
User and expert interview:

1. Questions for the users of the new system
2. Questions for the experts who can develop the system:

Appendix 4:
Brainstorming:

Appendix 5:
Porter’s five forces for eBay business strategyq:

Appendix 6:
Customer journey: