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Ebay

I. eBay's Vision:
eBay was founded in the San Jose living room of Pierre Omidyar back in September 1995. The basic vision Omidyar had when he founded what became eBay was to create a person to person trading community based on democratic market principles; these principles allowed for a free flow of information, communication and ultimately transaction on tens of millions of items through the internet. Along with the help of Meg Whitman, a skilled branding manager, and a senior staff from such heavily branded companies as PepsiCo and Disney, they established a strong mission for the company- that eBay be a company that is in the business of connecting people, not selling them things. This founding vision set the course for eBay's explosive growth from 1996-2003, making it the world's online marketplace for the sale of goods and services by a diverse community of individuals and businesses.
II. eBay's Business Model
Since its inception in 1995, eBay has become the market leader and innovator in the online auction industry and its brand has accordingly become synonymous with e-commerce. Rapid growth and being the first to market served eBay's competitive strategy of differentiation well; there was really nothing like it out there: unique service, broad range of products and global reach. In addition, their target audience was quite diverse-on the buyer side you had everyone from hobbyists and collectors to the bargain hunters; on the seller side you had antique dealers, casual sellers, mom-and-pop businesses selling unique items and finally large well-known corporations liquidating their inventory. Buyers and sellers are brought together in a manner where sellers are permitted to list items for sale, buyers to bid on items of interest and all eBay users to browse through listed items in a fully automated way. The items are arranged by topics,...