Yelp research – Term Paper

1. Yelp company

Yelp is a Multinational international organization whose headquarters are in San Francisco California. The group’s core business is the delivery of fast food business commonly known as Eat24. The team reviews and provides business with the specific requirements to be part of Yelp. If the company qualifies, it is listed on the Yelp database. However, new challenges are currently facing the business, as evidenced by the PORTER analysis conducted in this report. According to Wall Street, Yelp stock has recently dropped by close to -22%, which might lead to the deserting of the fragile company. The result is as a result of the decline of the average monthly visits, whereas its revenue of $118.5 million means that the company is not meeting the expectations of customers (Mourdoukoutas, 2015). As to be evidenced, the company is not reaching directly to the customer; hence it seems to abandon the customer before the customer makes it to the point of sale. This is a problem that both Uber and Arbnb have predominantly avoided. Hence, the recommendations in this paper should focus in creating a strategic approach to Yelp current problem. Hence, the team should be focusing heavily on generating new skills, partnering with local companies, while embarking on print advertisements.;

2.;Yelp History

2.1 2004-2009

The group began in 2004 with former Paypal employees Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmon. The organization has with time grown rapidly as an enlisting business. In the year 2005, the group embarked on a major reformulation of its products. However, it was already facing significant revenue setbacks. As such, it raised 5 million dollars and 10 million funding from Bessemer Ventures and Benchmark Capital respectively. In the same year, the company received over a hundred thousand reviewers. It subsequently registered $15 million in the financing. By 2008, the organization received over $100 million in extra funding; it also received an extra of $75 million for the sale of shares.; ;By 2009, the group entered into several negotiations with companies such as Google which have a wider network. In 2012, the team renewed its profitability trends, followed by 2013 and 2014 however in 2015 the group reformulated its profitability trend.

2.2 2010-2014

As a global corporation, the organization began registering a mild presence in Canada and the United Kingdom. By 2010, the group’s UK and Canadian market encouraged the company to spread into France. Other countries that it has ventured include Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Turkey, Italy and Spain. In the year 2011, Yelp issued its first Initial Public Offering (IPO). Subsequently, in March 2012, the company sold its first share at $15 million, valuing the company at $898 million. The company has with time acquired more revenue from the selling of shares (Malik, 2017). The company has exceeded the reasonable expectations, and it is currently profitable enough. The company now occupies 150,000 square feet of floors on PacBell Building in San Francisco.

2.3 2015 and 2016

By 2015, the American Public Services motivated the introduction of a General Administration Services which began providing the appropriate Transport and the Security Administration for fast foods. So far, the organization has worked closely with the government to ensure listed companies meet the appropriate quality threshold. 

3. Yelp strategy

3.1 Brand Position

From Yelp success history, it is clear that the business has been focusing predominantly on using web-based infrastructure and primarily using social networking to reach out to more users. The strategy is to make a unique business platform one that is not similar to other competitors in the industry. Also, the site has regularly been improved to add reviews, events and the business situation surrounding the personal conditions of the product. The mobile application introduced in December 2008 has been instrumental in creating the appropriate shared user experience. As well, the company has played an important role in

Yelp reservation has enabled the company to release faster strategic growth with time. The company ticket features have allowed the company to achieve the appropriate competitive advantage since it has an integrated mapping with all the directive features for the listing a local businesses. While listing, it has been possible to contain similar features together, which include allowing the user to rate positively through upvote, or rate negatively for the downvote.

3.2 Organizational Strategy

The Organizations makes decisions to the products and the services for promoting, price and selling. The team has managed to restructure its internal conditions for the appropriate technology, capabilities, and resources. The group plans for the conditions and the external environment which surround the market situation. As well, it focuses on planning for new products to be released periodically. The organization creates a great proposition for recreating the right strategic planning process. The team matches the organizational strengths with the available opportunities for the planning in changing the circumstances that are necessary for the business.

3.3 PORTER Presentation of the Business

Table 1: Key Level Business Strategies