Draft - Case Analysis 1Draft - Case Analysis 6BUS 49.docx

Draft - Case Analysis
1
6
BUS 4993
Greg Tavarez
Professor Hashmi
Capella University
11/19/17
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract………………………………………………………………
…………….3
Introduction…………………………………………………………
…………….4
Business
overview………………………………………………………………
…5
Problem
statement………………………………………………………………
….5
Company’s
competencies………………………………………………………….
7

Strategies followed by the
CEO………………………………………………….…8
Board of director’s strategic intent and their
effectiveness…………………………8
Recommendations……………………………………………………
……………...9
References……………………………………………………………
…………….11
Abstract
The case talks about the Marissa Mayer initiatives taken
at Yahoo, Inc. after joining as the CEO in 2012. It is clear that
Yahoo had been having challenges and lost the increasing
dominance, especially in internet services. The primary
objectives assigned to Marissa Mayer, the former Google
executive, was reviving the organizational fortunes. Marissa
began to focus on changing the Yahoo culture as the primary
strategy to turn around the company and put it back to the
competitive position as soon as she took over the CEO. Over the
times, Yahoo had taken back an awful reputation for being a
company bearing bureaucratic culture which strangled creativity
and expansion.
The CEO began several initiatives to ensure that the
organization had become democratic. She began hiring many
new individuals for essential posts with the aim to change the
Yahoo culture (Thomas, David & Charles, 2017). Among the
significant initiatives Mayer started, the most important one was
PB&J program that encouraged individuals to render ideas on
how to make Yahoo the most favorable organization to work.
The PB&J program was not the sole influential initiative, Mayer

also began efforts with the objective to lower bureaucracy at the
group and introduce effective compensation initiatives.
Regarding the ability of the new enterprises to changing the
company culture in a limited time, analysts bore mixed opinions
on the issues. Some argued that it would not be easy to
dismantle an organizational culture in a limited time, especially
since the organization had seen a leadership difficulty with
successive executives. The discussion will center on this case
and how important or influential these decisions were of
organizational culture.
Introduction
The entity, in this case, Yahoo Inc. is among the globe’s leading
online networks incorporated services provider having a
combined user base in more than five million. Yahoo offers a
wide array of network services, however over its 17 years of
existence, there has been the rise of entities providing similar
services. It is clear that the current players assumed the
specializing path in a given kind of service while others
introduced a whole array of new services. Yahoo has been
facing increased competition from dominant market players,
such as Google. Technology advancement has become an
essential aspect of human adaptation.
There are powerful forces that drive the globe to the cultural
level ground, and it is critical to a company operating at this
level to put all these into considerations. The force was
developed and began as an individual website by both David
Filo and Yang. These two had a dream of prospering income
from the web directory by allowing businesses to have their
commodities and services advertised in this online catalog. The
creative idea caught many investors attention because of
commodity preference moved from the origins to across the
global divide.
Through technological channels that extended the growth of

new markets in various sectors across the world, the popularity
of the commodity grew instantly. Yahoo Inc. gained investors,
as well as competitors once there was growth in the expansion.
The competitors brought changes in a whole new way, and the
company had to make changes on the objectives, business
concept and both internal and outside environment and
approach. The entity held on the likely return following vertical
integration approach that would have accelerated the business
performance and get hold of the lost bases to the main market
leader. The decision to recruit Marissa Mayer indicates an
exclusive understanding Yahoo faced a challenge posed by
Google, as both the CEO and CFO know well the Google
executive background before joining Yahoo.
Business overview
Yahoo! Was initially designed to offer form to various websites
categories. It started with a navigational guide to the World
Wide Web expansion. The entity became among the top
providers in the World Wide Web search engines and competing
for head-on with Google. The business later became to the
leadership transition, which made the company direction to
move towards advertising end for income. The change of CEOs
came about following increased competition over internet
advertising space. One of the China's most prominent company
where Yahoo invested one billion dollars was the Alibaba group
who received forty percent share of equity. Additionally,
Alibaba also assumed the mandates to run the Yahoo China
website. Yahoo reinvested half of its investment in Alibaba for
7.6 billion dollars since yahoo’s primary objective was
maximizing the tax bill capital gains.
Problem statement
When the company regained the investment proceeds, a more
significant challenge came along for Melissa Mayer. The CEO's

first actions (essential acquisitions) went out of play following
increased pressure from the shareholders. The pressure from the
shareholders forms part of the reasons a business of this caliber
was shut down from its exclusive potential and collapse. The
shareholder's mindset prevented the fulfillment of the CEOs
ideas. In the process of all this taking place, the business
throughout period lost its market identity. On the other hand,
Mayer’s additional difficulty fell under re-establishment of
Yahoo as one of primary market competitors. There was a
drastic change in the company’s revenue since it changed from
being known as a professional corporation to more of a firm
doing advertising. Mayer’s experience was in the technology
field, and this transition became even more challenging. The
newly appointed CEO had received the resources as a result of
the investment, and she could use them on weak geographical
locations of Yahoo, which resided in both Asia and Africa. In
that case, it meant that with the direction the advertising and
technical world is headed, Mayer would be expected to reason
out the innovative strategies that will work.
The company will exclusively take this direction, and in future,
Yahoo will largely depend on the resources reinvestment
patterns. If Mayer reached on a decision to focus on the mobile
in line with industry demands, she would have to introduce or
improve Yahoo current mobile standards. Additionally, Mayer
can pay attention to enhancing the geographic regions that the
business is presently weak by developing and implementing
underlying investments or acquisitions. It is also vital for the
CEO to decide on the path to assume which will be accepted by
the shareholders and this will start to change the corporation
image as well as the reputation.
The company’s reputation had also been damaged following the
falsification of the CEO Scott Thompson resume. It was
necessary to improve all the business aspects the work culture
and productivity did not meet the required standards according

to Mayer. To gain better productivity, it was essential for the
management and hiring of employees to improve exclusively.
The services offered by Yahoo required to move towards where
the global technology was headed. For improvement to be seen
in coming years, the company finances needed to be structured,
and the burden was on Mayer’s shoulders to resolve.
Figure 1
Company’s core competencies
It appears as if the company is better poised on its
internal environment than external environment primarily based
on the above description and the company’s forecasted analysis.
The business requires improvisation on the assets and brands to
raise market share and efficiency. The beginning of the new
approach of refocusing the company towards its competencies
came with laying off fourteen percent of its employees. The
move was for the sake of innovation implementation, and also it
would give the management a simpler leverage upon the
workers. It is evident as the CEO Mayer took the initiative
immediately and offered workers free lunch, technological
equipment change as well as making it upon herself in
reviewing every single recruit.
The operation move will assist the corporation in
achieving the intimate surrounding of the business and also
impact the commodity portfolio (Goodman, 2017). Yahoo leads
in the sector concerning the services and commodities they
provide. In turn, this offers the chance for the entity for vertical
integration, and the core competency comes in handy with
innovation ability in designing redefined value adding traits for
several services.
The effectiveness of Yahoo marketing services and its potential
to attract clients and publishers is another core competency. The
original business structure depended on contextual marketing

and providing a premium search engine for the World Wide
Web. In that case, it is a clear illustration of Yahoo's ability
strength and its capabilities they can implement.
Strategies to be followed by the CEO
Creating a reliable system and improving the services to
develop a mobile-friendly globe are the two main strategies that
will help in redefining Yahoo. Yahoo will globally dominate in
the services they offer as a result of creating a well-balanced
geographic structure. In turn, the company will record increased
income and popularity across the world. With a strong base,
Yahoo will collect acquisition and innovative ideas
opportunities they can offer for specific areas. Global client
satisfaction will result to yahoo’s improved image and help the
company re-enter as a primary competitor. Yahoo needs to focus
on integrating their services to become mobile friendly
especially for regions that are up to date in the technological
globe. It is also essential for the entity to introduce services
that are mobile-specific whether it concerns media, storage or
any other.
Board of director’s strategic intent and their effectiveness.
There has been a rapid growth of internet sector, and with
minimum challenges to entry and reduced switching fees,
technological factors mostly impact yahoo. The board of
directors’ currents faces the challenge of establishing Yahoo’s
identity which is a strategic intent. The company’s primary
source of revenue was advertisement since it began as a
technology entity. Instead of leaning towards media, the
company needs to work on advertising to gain a competitive
advantage against the leading competitors.
Assuming this strategy will see the company take its first step
to redefining the technological image. The policy would not
satisfy the competitors because running a technology-based

entity an individual will require having a clear understanding of
the features aspects, though the board of directors earlier was
against having CEO bearing a technological background. To
raise the growth within the technology arena, it is essential to
have an individual who understands the sector and the demands.
Recommendations
The internal core competencies and management of the workers
are the keys to a great business. Motivated employees will help
an organization to improve productivity and achieve consumer
satisfaction. Mayer’s initial plan is an excellent approach, and it
is the best recommendation for the business (Wunder, 2016). It
is essential for the management to ensure that employees remain
motivated and also the CEO need to have core competencies
listed for every employee. For instance, the organization can
have a monthly award for the best employee in line with
performance. Another thing that needs to be present in a group
is effective communication, and this helps in seeing the
employees’ needs through improvement of internal
communication.
Motivate
Deliver
Google has been a top rival for Yahoo, and it is vital to ensure
they develop strategies to ensure they are better than them or
doing things differently (2015). In that case, it would be
recommended that the company pays attention to commodity
innovation and lean towards increased energy efficient
commodities and services. The recommendation will see the
business strengthen the connection with clients and businesses
that need increased storage, applications, and others.

References:
Pearce, J. A., & Robinson, R. B. (2015). Strategic management
(14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. ISBN:
9780077862510.
Strategic Management: Competitiveness & Globalization:
Concepts, 11th Edition. (2015). ProtoView,
Thomas L., W., J. David, H., Alan N., H., & Charles E., B.
(2017). Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy:
Globalization, Innovation and Sustainability, Global Edition.
Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson.
Goodman, M. (2017). Creativity and Strategic Innovation
Management: Directions for Future Value in Changing Times.
Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Wunder, T. (2016). Essentials of Strategic Management:
Effective Formulation and Execution of Strategy. Stuttgart:
Schäffer Poeschel.
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-marissa-mayer-changed-
yahoo-charts-2016-7?IR=T
EMPLOYEES’
COMPANY
Essay should go beyond the obvious and be written at a
graduate level making sure to properly cite sources according to
APA style guidelines. Your essay must be a minimum of 1,200
words (excluding the title, abstract, and reference page), but

may not exceed 2,500 words and must use three academic
resources to support your position. Any resources including but
not limited to journals, magazine, and/or books must be
properly cited using the APA style.
Big Brother
Electronic surveillance has become a controversial practice in
the United States and elsewhere. The fear is that civil liberties
can become jeopardized by unregulated interception of
telephone conversations, e-mail, and telefacsimiles. Detractors
argue that government use of these technologies can
conceivably move well beyond their legitimate application
against threats from crime, espionage, and terrorism. Without
strict protocols to rein in these technologies, a worst-case
scenario envisions state intrusions into the everyday activities
of innocent civilians. Should this happen, critics foresee a time
when privacy, liberty, and personal security become values of
the past.
Discuss, from YOUR perspective, the following questions in a
written essay:
· How serious is the threat from abuses in the use of new
technologies?
· How should new technologies be regulated? Can they be
regulated?
· Is it sometimes necessary to sacrifice a few freedoms to
protect national security and to ensure the long- term viability
of civil liberty?
· Should the same protocols be used for domestic electronic
surveillance and foreign surveillance? Why?
· What is the likelihood that new surveillance technologies will
be used as tools of repression by authoritarian regimes in the
near future?

Essay should go beyond the obvious and be written at a
graduate level making sure to properly cite sources according to
APA style guidelines. Your essay must be a minimum of 1,200
words (excluding the title, abstract, and reference page), but
may not exceed 2,500 words and must use three academic
resources to support your position. Any resources including but
not limited to journals, magazine, and/or books must be
properly cited using the APA style.
Big Brother
Electronic surveillance has become a controversial practice in
the United States and elsewhere. The fear is that civil liberties
can become jeopardized by unregulated interception of
telephone conversations, e-mail, and telefacsimiles. Detractors
argue that government use of these technologies can
conceivably move well beyond their legitimate application
against threats from crime, espionage, and terrorism. Without
strict protocols to rein in these technologies, a worst-case
scenario envisions state intrusions into the everyday activities
of innocent civilians. Should this happen, critics foresee a time
when privacy, liberty, and personal security become values of
the past.
Discuss, from YOUR perspective, the following questions in a
written essay:
· How serious is the threat from abuses in the use of new
technologies?
· How should new technologies be regulated? Can they be
regulated?
· Is it sometimes necessary to sacrifice a few freedoms to
protect national security and to ensure the long- term viability
of civil liberty?

· Should the same protocols be used for domestic electronic
surveillance and foreign surveillance? Why?
· What is the likelihood that new surveillance technologies will
be used as tools of repression by authoritarian regimes in the
near future?
Guide to the Strategic Management Case Analysis Project
Your Case Analysis Project
The Case Analysis Project is an important one, both in terms of
the learning experience in this class and in terms of the effect
on your grade. The purpose of this paper is to collect the project
descriptions, requirements, and grading criteria for the Case
Analysis Project and to include recommendations to help you
successfully complete the project as efficiently and satisfyingly
as possible.
Here is the project description
Excerpted from the syllabus:
Project Overview
For this project, you will analyze a business case, Yahoo! Inc.:
Marissa Mayer’s Challenge, and make recommendations based
on the outcome of your analysis. The goal is to demonstrate
strategic critical thinking skills when analyzing a business
scenario, taking all factors into account, and recommend a
strategy to move that company forward. Your analysis and
recommendations should flow together, providing your readers
with a clear picture of the issues at hand and leading them to the
logical conclusion of your strategic recommendations. Your
case analysis should be designed for an audience of working
adults who are seeking to improve their understanding of your
chosen topic.
In Unit 6, you will submit a complete draft of your analysis.
Your final submission is due in Unit 9. Before you submit the
final version of your paper, revise your draft based on the

feedback you receive. In addition, as you learn new concepts
within the final units of the course, you may need to revisit
your draft and add additional supporting points or content, as
warranted.
Case Topic
The case you will analyze is included in your text, specifically,
"Case 30: Yahoo! Inc.: Marissa Mayer’s Challenge," (page 30-1
to 30-12). In preparation for your case analysis, read "Guide to
Strategic Management Case Analysis"(pages 442-450) in the
text, which provides valuable advice on how to analyze a
business case. As you develop your analysis and
recommendations, use the tools provided in your text to guide
you. Also, consider the information and knowledge you are
acquiring and think about how you can apply this in your
current professional work.
Project Requirements
To achieve a successful project experience and outcome, you
are expected to meet the following requirements.
Content and flow: In your final submission, be sure that the:
Structure is evident, understandable, and appropriate.
Main and supporting points are easily identifiable, plausible,
and clear.
Paper employs a minimum of four reputable sources to support
main points.
Logic is identifiable, reasonable, and sound.
Paper includes at least two charts, graphs, or visual aids to
support your points.
Transitions from point to point are excellent and paragraphs
support solid topic sentences.
Number of pages: Your final paper must be 6–8 pages,
excluding the title page and reference list.
File format: Be sure to submit your paper in Microsoft Word
format.
Style and formatting: Use proper APA sixth edition style to cite
and reference your sources. Also follow APA formatting
guidelines for the layout of your paper. Refer to the Capella

Online Writing Center's APA sixth edition style and formatting
module on iGuide for more information.
The syllabus identifies nine criteria in the grading rubric for the
draft and final versions of your case analysis:
1. Analyze the strategic fit between the business vision and the
key elements of the business strategy, considering domestic and
global environments, and provide supporting evidence and
examples.
2. Evaluate the alignment between business strategy, customer
needs, to determine how and the degree to which organizational
value has been established.
3. Create organizational value in the recommendations provided
and provide a detailed description of how value is created
through decisions made.
4. Demonstrate an excellent ability to plan strategically in
domestic and global environments in the recommendations
provided.
5. Integrate high-performing business management techniques
in the analysis and recommendations; the integrated techniques
consistently promote delivery of value-added, bottom-line
results.
6. Consistently solves problems within professional standards
and provides supporting evidence and examples.
7. Uses and integrates multiple, appropriate financial models
and principles to support decisions and recommendations.
8. Demonstrate excellent use of proper APA style and
formatting, effective written communication skills, and
supported evidence to communicate effectively; there are no
style or formatting errors.
9. Demonstrate excellent written communication skills.
Excerpted from the text Strategic Management: The authors of
your text have seven excellent suggestions for case analysis in
Part Four: Guide to Strategic Management Case Analysis that
are a combination of substance and style which I strongly
recommend to you:
1. Analyze. Avoid merely repeating the facts presented in the

case. Analyze the issues involved in the case and build logically
toward your recommendations.
2. Use headlines or labels. Using headlines or labels throughout
your written analysis will help your reader follow your analysis
and recommendations. For example, when you are analyzing the
weaknesses of the firm in the case, include the heading
Weaknesses. Note the headings in the cases that follow.
3. Discuss alternatives. Follow the proper strategic management
sequence by (a) identifying alternatives, (b) evaluating each
alternative, and (c) recommending the alternative you think is
best.
4. Use topic sentences. You can help your reader more easily
evaluate your analysis by putting the topic sentence first in each
paragraph and following with statements directly supporting the
topic sentence.
5. Be specific in your recommendations. Develop specific
recommendations logically and be sure your recommendations
are well defended by your analysis. Avoid using
generalizations, clichés, and ambiguous statements. Remember
that any number of answers are possible and so your professor
is most concerned about how your reasoning led to your
recommendations and how well you develop and support your
ideas.
6. Do not overlook implementation. Many good analyses receive
poor evaluations because they do not include a discussion of
implementation. Your analysis will be much stronger when you
discuss how your recommendations can be implemented.
Include some of the specific actions needed to achieve the
objectives you are proposing.
7. Specifically state your assumptions. Cases, like all real
business situations, involve incomplete information. Therefore,
it is important that you clearly state any assumptions you make
in your analysis. Do not assume your professor will be able to
fill in the missing points.
My recommendations:
There are as many different successful ways of developing this

case analysis as there are learners. That said, here are a few
suggestions for you and some expectations for this project that
you will want to meet:
Establish a role for yourself. For example, assume that you are a
consultant hired either by Yahoo! or an internal consultant to
the company and have been given the task of analyzing the
company and making recommendations that will guide strategy
decisions. Your deliverables are recommendations based on
analysis of the business.
Do not assume the role of reporter. Your role is not to report the
facts about the company—that has been done in the case. You
do not add value by restating these facts. Your role is
analysis—not reporting.
The complaint I hear most often about business or financial
analysts: too much data; too little analysis. Especially today
when so much information is so easily available, providing
more of it is not helpful. Analyze, interpret, predict,
recommend! That’s where you add value.
Use a SWOT analysis approach. (See your Strategic
Management text, especially Chapter Six. This approach to your
case allows for logical organization and presentation of your
analysis. Be very targeted and purposeful in the use of this
approach: don’t include random, unrelated factors. Select only
those factor that will be the focus of your recommendations.
There may be any number of strengths or weaknesses,
opportunities or threats that you will ignore. You’ll focus on
those critical few that will be the subject of your
recommendations and implementation plans. Focus your SWOT
analysis on the specific issues that you feel are key to your
analysis of the case. Identify only factors in the SWOT analysis
that are important to your recommendations and implementation
strategies.
Make and support recommendations. The meat of your
presentation are the recommendations that follow from your
analysis of the facts. Make your recommendations specific,
relevant, achievable, and actionable. (A mistake that I’ve seen

repeated is a recommendation: increase market share 40%. I ask
myself: how would the company do that: growth, acquisition,
how? That much growth would be enormously expensive in the
short run—you know how much liquidity is eaten by growth—
and that kind of acquisition plans would likely have serious
problems with regulators. So I am eager to see how that plan is
defended. But, there was no support offered. Only the
recommendation. Which does not add value.
Include implementation plans for your recommendations.
Specify the who, what, where, why, when to support your
recommendations. How will they be accomplished? By whom?
How will they be funded? Over what period of time? To
accomplish what?
Analyze your recommendations. Include your cost/benefit
analysis. What is their expected return? How much value do you
expect them to add?
Length of the paper: The project instructions include that your
paper must be 6-8 pages long exclusive of title page, references,
and appendices. My expectation is that most effective papers
will be at least eight pages long-- if your paper is longer than
ten pages edit it down to ten pages. Again, this length is
exclusive of charts, pictures, graphs, etc. which belong in an
appendix, not in the body of the paper. Tactics like using wide
margins, large fonts, and excessive amounts of white space do
not hide the fact that a paper is inappropriately short, but
instead call attention to that fact.
Charts and Graphs: Meet the requirement that you include at
least two charts, graphs, or visual aids to support your points.
You would be well advised to include charts and graphical
analysis for the major points of your case. These charts or
graphs are not merely reproductions of those presented in the
case, but are the result of your analysis. Your use of data must
be analytical—don’t just present the facts, but interpret them.
You are not a reporter; you are an analyst! What does the data
show? What does the data predict? What recommendations do
the data prompt you to make?

Cite credible resources. Meet the requirement that your paper
employs a minimum of four reputable sources to support your
main points. Your sources must be reputable-- which in this
context means that your source must be primary. Wikipedia, for
example, is not a reputable source because it is in most cases a
tertiary resource.
Start with an outline. Decide on, and then outline your approach
before you begin. What factors will you analyze, what data will
you use to analyze them, what alternative recommendations will
you explore, how will you decide among them, what
recommendations for implementation will you make, how will
you justify these recommendations, how will they help to solve
the problems you have identified or how will they help to take
advantage of the opportunities you have identified.
Invest in the draft. Resist the temptation to view your project
submission in unit six as a rough draft. Think of it instead as a
robust draft. Remind yourself that the more time, effort, and
energy you invest in the version you submit in unit six the less
will be required of you in your unit nine assignment.
Establish a plan. Plan now to budget your time, effort and
energy for this project so that you will be able to produce an
end result which will give you the satisfaction of completing
your Capstone Project at a distinguished level.

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