The Worst Governance
>>Ever<<
A time magazine article by Victor Luckerson on Wednesday shows how ebay is considered the most poorly managed (major) company , also known as a poor governance. An activist by the name of Carl Icahn regularly fights with the tech CEOs. The main topic of the fighting lies within the chat service of Skype. See, the problem was when Marc Andreessen sold Skype to Microsoft. Icahn believes it could have easily been sold for more (the selling price was 8.5 billion). It turns out that Andreessen wasn't the one who sold Skype in the first place. The facts and contracts were poorly handled. Arguments still continue, and it will be pressed again in a follow-up in the month of April. There are also debates on the Paypal system, another ebay service.
I'll let you form your own ideas about this, boys and girls. For me, ebay's management seems hectic and chaos is never good for a company; not good for most things for that matter. You have Icahn jabbing at flaws in the company, to what extent?
Well, in all honesty, he is not only making the public aware of this, but also to the company itself. (An important thing to take note of is that Carl Icahn is also a major investor, so this type of interaction can be justified by the value of the investment).
Icahn in the end is helping ebay slap itself into shape. A behavioral criticism (in moderation, as everything should be) can be a positive aid, and ebay currently needs it.
So the other aspects of the economy; what about them? We've been learning demand--as we all have nailed so far--so mismanagement can apply. Say the use of ebay as an auction site goes down. What could this be from? If the consumer's expectations go down, and maybe they find a substitute website, ebay will suffer a loss. This loss can hurt the investment of Icahn's business: Icahn Enterprises. The investors for HIS business will be hurt, and it will chain down, affecting a large portion of the economy.
So helpful tip before you go: get organized, hire people to keep that organization, and keep those people working efficiently. You will be a happier person (financially)
I had no idea that ebay was so poorly managed! I find it interesting that such a large, successful, and prominent company such as ebay could have all these problems "behind the scenes". I think that this ties in nicely with our topic of the week: demand.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting to find out that ebay was facing all these problems because it is such a large known business and widely used its cool to find out whats really going on with the company
ReplyDeleteI am very surprise that such big name company such as Ebay has problem such as these. Shouldn't there be a standard for these big companies that handles people money on the basis? Now i am very afraid to do any business on Ebay.
ReplyDeleteCarl Icahn should be praised for his work. This issue is clearly not well known and more people should be made aware that such a large business is not being handled very well. There are so many users of ebay that the company really should be in better shape. I think that this is a prime example of how getting organized can make a difference and of how the consumer is partly responsible for how a company conducts itself. If enough people care to make a difference, then there will be a change in the system.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that a company as influential as ebay is so chaotically organized. It's a relief that that are people like Carl Icahn who try to reduce mismanagement. I hope that in the future ebay will be able to get its act together.
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