MySpace Case Study
- 1. Should MySpace enter into Google’s Open Social Platform? By: Keyon Bonner George Helock Joseph Richardson
- 2. Highlighted Topics Benefits from proposal Cost of joining Google Open Social Platform Porter’s competitive forces model Strategies needed for competitive advantage Conclusion
- 3. Benefits from proposal Sustain competitive edge Improve overall user environment on MySpace Acquire comparable functionality as that of other competitors; Facebook No major investment
- 4. Cost of joining Google Open Social Platform Privacy issues Only mirroring other competitors; Facebook Low cost of investment; major cost on organizational and IT strategies How will changes influence user perception Negative long-term affects
- 5. Porter’s competitive forces model The threat of entry of new competitors The bargaining power of suppliers The bargaining power of customers The threat of substitute products or services The rivalry among existing firms in the industry
- 6. Strategies needed for competitive advantage Differentiation strategy Innovation strategy Customer-orientation strategy
- 7. Conclusion It is in the opinion o f those who partook in this study that MySpace not enter into Google’s Open Social platform. The reasons, as to why we enter this opinion, come from the thought that we must stay constant with our organizational commitments. Some of these commitments are to stay faithful to the customer by not entering any personal data on the customer that may be used to take away the privacy of the individual. Also, we feel that this undertaking will strip MySpace of the very thing that has lead to its success in the past, differentiation. Even with the attractive lure of a minuscule investment, we feel that MySpace should think of retaining its competitive advantage with long-range goals. We know that some will ask the question, “This deal will give us the ability to stay on top now.” We feel that even though this statement is true, it lacks one key ingredient. How will the customer view our product. We feel that by enter into this deal, we will be 1.) just giving the user something that they have grown to expect and use from our competitors, and 2.) making it harder to develop own brand of innovative products that may be enjoyed by the user. For these reasons we feel that MySpace should seek to make its own functional platform, so that we may keep to our organizational and IT commitments.