Can+Yahoo+Be+Saved?

Can Yahoo be saved? [|Will Yahoo Die?]

Paul Saffo ( a managing director of [|Foresight at Discern Analytics].) says that Yahoo needs to have drastic change in mindset and a committed leader to really dig Yahoo out of the hole that it has fallen into. He also talks about something called the DNA of the company and Yahoo’s folly in trying to outmatch the DNA of other companies. He says that while competing with other companies, a company needs to compete with itself, and outdo itself the most.



Kartik Hosanagar (a professor of Internet commerce at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School) says that rather than desperately trying to retake the market that they are in, they should take risks and try creating new markets. According to Hosanagar, that is what companies like Apple have done.



Laura Martin (a managing director at [|Needham & Company]) seems quite pessimistic for Yahoo and says that it’s normal for companies on the internet to have short life spans. She says that it is a cycle of technology getting unseated every 10 or so years by new technology and that it is nothing new.



Don Dodge (a former Microsoft executive and tech business blogger) says that Yahoo has to cut the products that are not helping them come back and focus on drastically improving products that can help them. He says that they require new management and should focus on big risks rather than trying to make small incremental improvement.



__Comments__ The comments of this topic seem to be less about an argument and more of a disscussion of personal experiences it was by Jean de Beaumont in Paris, France.

__The Top Comment.__
 * What continues to annoy me about Yahoo! is its low quality in many areas that reflects the lack of a user-friendly strategy. For example: - Most info is written from a U.S., not global point of view; - Articles within the Finance section are poorly written; - Stock data are often inaccurate (e.g. yield and p/e); - After- and Pre-market data in a portfolio are messy; - Websites uploaded to Y! Search remain non-indexed; - E-mail start page is bland with same picture for days; - The inability to communicate with a credible Y! rep.**
 * I would have switched to another provider long ago, if it was not for my Y! e-mail address being registered with many other online services. But the day is nearing ...**

This person explains their own experiences with information about this topic.

One of the most indepth comments is by simply cw. Their ideas are completely true and Yahoo should look at the pointers.


 * The success or failure of a business depends on these essentials:**
 * 1. The perceived value of the services or products to the customer relative to the cost**
 * 2. How the company values and treats its customers, i.e. relationship between the company and customers**
 * 3. People know about the company and are interested to find out about their products and/or services**
 * The major mistakes many companies make are:**
 * 1. Watch their competition and try to copy them to avoid risk**
 * 2. Not be willing to risk and invest in new products and services**
 * 3. Not value employees and treat them with respect. Rather see them as a resource, rather than the actual foundation of the company that they are.**
 * 4. Short term thinking focusing on the immediate return rather than long term growth.**
 * 5. Monetize everything due to good old greed. It just makes people angry because they realize they are being treated like cash cows.**
 * Examples are spreading fees: baggage fees roaming fees, Netflix...Bad press spreads at the speed of light or even faster. 6. Distraction. shoddy quality of your products. Rather do what you do really well, and focus on excellence**
 * Be good to your customers and employees and they will be loyal to you. It is very obvious but it takes a will to do it.**
 * Yahoo needs to focus on what they do well and increase the value to customers.**
 * Yahoo stumbled when they ruined their email product.**
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