Yahoo Still Searching For Its Place In The Tech World
In 2012 I wrote a blog post about Marissa Meyer and why she wanted to give everyone at Yahoo an iPhone. At that time Marissa had been given the daunting task of turning around a company that lost its identity. Yahoo once was the company to beat. It was the company that had the internet business that everyone wanted. Somehow Yahoo lost its way.
Instead of moving forward, Yahoo fell behind companies that had surpassed its own performance. Yahoo needed to get back to understanding who they were and what their customers needed and wanted. So it was obvious why she wanted everyone to have an iPhone. Marissa was trying to get Yahoo’s employees to focus on the foundations of what made Yahoo great.
The problem is Yahoo is still searching. As evidence in the recent article in Business Insider by Biz Carson (Business Insider Web Post 1/6/2016)
This is a big issue for some organizations. Yahoo lacks what is called having a core business model. They do not have an essential reason why they exist to serve their customers. Successful companies have this core, like Google
and Apple. It goes beyond brand issues. It goes beyond product issues. Yahoo needs to answer this question “why would a person or organization buy from us verses anyone else?” That is the issue that Yahoo has not resolved to this day.
Yahoo needs to understand who they are, how they can serve their customers uniquely and how they fit into the tech market. Until they find their core they will just be another company of experimentation of products. Products melted together by trial and error in the hopes that something stick’s on the wall. They will still be searching for their place in the tech world. I am rooting for Yahoo to figure out their core business model. I am just not sure how much time they have left to pull it together.
