eBay - Organizational Culture
INTRODUCTION
eBay is a worldwide auction site that was founded by
Pierre Omidyar on September 3, 1995, in San Jose, CA. It
was originally called Auction Web and was part of a larger
personal site. The very first item sold on the site by
Omidyar was a broken laser pointer, to a collector of
broken laser pointers. The name of the company was
officially changed to eBay in September 1997. The
company went public in 1998, making Omidyar and the
first eBay president, Jeff Skoll, instant billionaires. The
company has since purchased many other related
companies, including PayPal, Skype and a percentage
interest in Craigslist. eBay employs more than 30,000
employees worldwide, and are headquartered in San
Jose. eBay is a worldwide auction site that was founded
by Pierre Omidyar on September 3, 1995, in San Jose,
CA. It was originally called Auction Web and was part of a
larger personal site. The very first item sold on the site by
Omidyar was a broken laser pointer, to a collector of
broken laser pointers. The name of the company was
officially changed to eBay in September 1997. The
company went public in 1998, making Omidyar and the
first eBay president, Jeff Skoll, instant billionaires. The
company has since purchased many other related
companies, including PayPal, Skype and a percentage
interest in Craigslist. eBay employs more than 30,000
employees worldwide, and are headquartered in San
Jose.
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
eBay Inc.’s organizational culture is a business response
to the dynamics of the online retail market and the e-
commerce industry environment. The company utilizes its
corporate culture as a strategic tool to promote
effectiveness in the global trading/marketplace platform,
auction and classifieds website operations, and related
services. Effectiveness contributes to competitive
advantages that are essential to addressing the forces
identified in the Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of eBay Inc.
A firm’s organizational culture or corporate culture defines
the values, customs and traditions that guide employees’
decisions and shape their mindsets and behaviours. In
this case of eBay’s corporate culture, results orientation is
emphasized as a crucial aspect of human resource
development and management. The company also
pushes for holism in how workers fulfil their jobs and affect
others through the Internet and other media. Thus, eBay’s
corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy is culturally
supported. For example, cultural attributes influence
employees to consider all aspects of the organization,
including subsidiaries like StubHub and Kijiji, and all
aspects of the business environment, including consumers
and sellers/vendors. The company’s organizational culture
is a pillar for long-term success in the rapidly changing e-
commerce landscape.
RESULT OREINTENT CULTURE
eBay Inc. has corporate culture of results-oriented
excellence. This culture is designed to promote business
effectiveness through human resource development.
Excellence and results orientation are core cultural factors
that the e-commerce company views necessary for
ensuring competitiveness in the online environment for
retail, auctions, classified listings, and ticket exchange
transactions. The attributes of eBay’s organizational
culture enhance the resilience of the international
trading/marketplace platform business, and develop
workers’ ability to support strategic management. The
following characteristics represent eBay’s corporate
culture:
Excellence
Results orientation
Inclusion and diversity
Excellence. Excellence is a core cultural characteristic of
eBay. The company believes in the importance of extraordinary
human resources in strategically growing an extraordinary e-
commerce business. In this way, the organizational culture
contributes to the business strengths shown in the SWOT
analysis of eBay Inc. For example, excellence in employee
performance leads to effective services that attract consumers
and merchants to the company’s online retail/auction platform
and classifieds websites. In implementing this attribute of the
corporate culture, human resource management programs
motivate workers to achieve and maintain excellence in
supporting the company’s marketplace/trading platform and
related operations.
Results Orientation. Aside from excellence, eBay also applies
results orientation in its organizational culture. This cultural trait
encourages workers to focus on the target results of the online
marketplace, classifieds and ticket exchange business, and
make decisions to achieve those results. For example, with a
holistic approach, eBay Inc. motivates employees to maximize
their results by considering each other and customers, aiming
for positive tangible impact on individuals all over the world.
The company uses its corporate culture to strategically manage
the effects of competitors, such as Newegg, Bonanza, Ruby
Lane, eBid, and eCrater, and to address challenges linked to
the online nature of the business.
Inclusion and Diversity. eBay’s organizational culture
promotes a diverse workforce and an inclusive workplace. This
cultural characteristic leads to diversity in workers’ training and
skills suited to the challenges in online retail, classifieds, and
ticket exchange operations. Also, inclusion promotes high
employee morale. The company encourages employee
behaviours that contribute to a wealth of ideas. For example,
inclusion and diversity enables creativity in addressing the
industry trends outlined in the PESTEL/PESTLE analysis of
eBay Inc. Thus, the company’s organizational culture facilitates
management decisions and strategies for improving resilience
in global e-commerce business.
CONCLUSION
An advantage of eBay’s corporate culture is the emphasis on
results-oriented excellence, which motivates employees to
exceed strategic expectations. This cultural trait helps satisfy
goals for growing the multinational e-commerce business. Such
excellence supports eBay’s generic competitive strategy and
intensive growth strategies. Another advantage of the
company’s organizational culture is that it promotes diversity
and inclusion that boost performance. For example, managers
use these cultural factors to improve workers’ morale and the
company’s innovation. Innovation improves the
competitiveness of the company’s online trading and classified
listings websites and relates services.
