SWOT of Yahool

Yahoo!'s Overture is a tremendously profitable Internet advertising business. It focuses on affiliate advertising for large advertise accounts, in the same way as Google's Adsense programme. This is an i

mportant income stream for Yahoo!.

Strengths

Having over 350 million users of its services and solutions. This makes it a very powerful marketing company, with a very well known brand..

A key long-term strength is Yahoo!'s international business presence. As the Internet expands and it is adopted by more nations the opportunities for Internet brands begin to emerge. Yahoo! is well placed to take advantage of these opportunities with its strategic business units in Asia, Europe and Australia.

The Yahoo! Directory is an original source of structured information. It has built over the last decade, and unlike mainstream search engines, its content is moderated (i.e. sites are vetted before their inclusion).

Weaknesses Differentiation is difficult

for Yahoo!. Almost all of its packaged services are available from other sources.

Online advertising is a new income stream for organisations such as MSN, Yahoo! and Goggle. Yes, today they are very, very profitable. However, as technology develops and new unforeseen advertising media emerge, the future is uncertain for these income streams.

Another income stream that has been key to Yahoo! is derived from its partnerships with telecommunication providers.

Opportunities The international market is a huge

opportunity for Yahoo!. Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google are busy carving niches and taking over businesses in are around the Greater China Region. China has over 1,200,000,000 citizens. Other economies, such as India, also offer tremendous growth potential.

The Development of the Yahoo! Directory has potential for new business and income streams. Two thirds of organisations in Ohmae's Triad (Europe, Japan and the USA) are Small Medium Enterprises (SME'). SME's are potential directory advertisers.

Mobile technologies offer another opportunity for Yahoo!. Today we access the Internet using personal computers. Tomorrow phones, televisions, personal organisers, music players and computers will merge and morph. The mobile devices of the future will need services and solutions. Yahoo! would be well placed to provide many of them.

Threats The biggest threat for all web-based organ

isation is competition. Huge profits attract investors, innovators and entrepreneurs. Dotcom fever has not gone away, it is now more focused on profit delivery. All of Yahoo!'s key services have competitors such as AOL, Google and many others.

International, culture specific competitors could affect Yahoo! in the future, unless strategic alliances are forged. China has developed its own search engines, as has India. Why should the World use USA based companies such as Yahoo!? There needs to be a series of substantial competitive advantages to see the business remain as an international brand. Look at what has been learned from the global car industry, or electronics industry.