A number of macroeconomics affect the search industry, but the shifting needs of consumers and the evolution of social platforms are the main factors. For instance, since the advent of Yahoo and Google, the search industry has undergone a radical transformation (Hill and Gareth 3). These days, people interact with the web through social channels such as Facebook.
Often, instead of searching for a site or information on Yahoo, people are turning to the social platform to get anything they want (Hill and Gareth 5). For instance, a business page on Facebook offers excellent results for an establishment. In fact, it is one of the best ways of finding information instead of navigating through different business websites, checking for the business hours, and tracking down the information.
Companies are also shifting from traditional platforms to social sites as they are good sites to net potential clients (Hill and Gareth 4). For instance, before the emergence of social platforms, many companies had signed with Yahoo to advertise their products, but they have reduced drastically today as a result of social platforms. In 2009, the revenue of Yahoo decreased by 13 percent as a result of the lack of use of its traditional advertising forms by companies.
Yahoos prospect for the future is still bright as it has competencies that give it a sustainable competitive advantage (Hill and Gareth 4). The diversification strategy of Yahoo is one of its great competencies. That is in as much as its stocks plunged in 2011; Yahoo owns or has a stake of more than 40 percent in Alibaba, a Chinese search engine, whose stocks increased. Also, acquisitions made by the company also give it an added advantage in the search industry (Hill and Gareth 4-5).
For instance, Rocket mail which attracts clients in the email line, GeoCities which offers webhosting services to registered users who share their information with friends on the internet, and in 2000, the company acquired an eGroup which is a social networking site that allow registered users to link and share their information with friends (Hill and Gareth 4). All these factors have enabled the company to stay ahead of the competition in the search industry.
The dominance of Google in the search engine industry accounted for about 60 percent of all United States searchers in 2011, whilst Yahoo! Search engine received 14percent, and Bing received about 13 percent (International Business News par. 2). In addition, Yahoo recorded a lot of success init core business, such as Relevance Engine and Content Optimization (Hill and Gareth 2-3). These segments are receiving a lot of attention at the moment, even though the company has not changed its technology (Watson par. 1). In 2012, Yahoo reported an increase of 270 percent in clicks putting it ahead of Google and Bing. Also, the deal with Bing saw the company’s visits rise to about 80 percent beating Google with almost 20 percent (International Business News par. 2).
With this, I had the money I still would invest in Yahoo. The decision to invest rests partly with its recent performances and, more so, its recent technology of personalizing its homepage (Hill and Gareth 5). This aspect has given people tailored information which has enhanced page views. Since page views have increased threefold, companies marketing their offering will follow suit, and Yahoo will pick again. When its deal with Alibaba is sustained, Yahoo in as much it may underperform in the US market, the Asian market will emerge to be its competence, and as such it will be able to deliver not only on clients demand but also on the shareholders demand (Hill and Gareth 4).
Works Cited
International Business News. Yahoo, Bing Yield ‘Higher Success Rate’ Than Google Search: Study. 2011. Web.
Hill, Charles and Jones Gareth. Strategic Management:An integrtaed Approach. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2013. Print.
Watson, Frank. Yahoo Content Behaviorally Targets Success. 2011. Web.