eBay Inc.’s mission statement and vision statement create an image of an e-commerce business that leads the industry and benefits everyone. In this way, the company’s online services are presented as a contributor to societal development. Also, the corporate mission and vision statements are determinants of eBay’s generic strategy for competitive advantage and intensive strategies for growth. For instance, the mission statement leads to strategies and goals for facilitating connections among the users of the company’s websites and related services. On the other hand, the vision statement sets a path for improving the company’s position in the e-commerce industry. Together with the purpose statement, the corporate vision and mission statements are starting points for defining eBay’s business organization and operations.
Business Purpose. eBay’s purpose is “to empower people and create economic opportunity for all through our technology for our global community of users.” This purpose shows that the company wields its technology to benefit people and communities. This kind of benefit relates to eBay’s corporate social responsibility and stakeholder management initiatives, considering that people and communities are stakeholders of the business. This business purpose is fundamental to the online marketplace company’s mission statement and vision statement, such as in the mission statement’s definition of the nature of the business, and the vision statement’s focus on goals for developing the corporation.
eBay’s Mission Statement
eBay’s mission statement is “We connect people and build communities to create economic opportunity for all.” The details of this corporate mission statement are strong representations of the e-commerce company’s business purpose and goals. The factors in eBay’s mission statement are as follows:
- Connecting people and building communities
- Creating economic opportunity
- Global scope of operations
Connecting people leads to the development of communities of users. This factor of eBay’s mission statement describes the business as a facilitator of connections. In technological terms, the company is defined as a platform business where users can make connections with each other. The corporate mission statement also specifies the goal of creating economic opportunities through eBay’s platform business. These opportunities come in the form of business opportunities for vendors or merchants, and access to a wide variety of competitively priced items for buyers or shoppers. In support of the mission statement, eBay’s marketing mix (4P) promotes these opportunities to attract more users to the company’s online marketplace. The company’s global scope of e-commerce operations is also defined through the “for all” portion of the corporate mission statement, encompassing every person who can access the Internet. This “for all” factor also influences business inclusiveness and other goals and objectives linked to the trends noted in the PESTEL/PESTLE analysis of eBay Inc. Overall, the mission statement defines the business and the benefits of its e-commerce operations. Given such benefits, eBay has rules and policies that impose some limits and requirements on sellers and buyers to ensure the safety, reliability, and stability of the marketplace or trading platform.
eBay’s Vision Statement
eBay’s vision statement is “We will build on our powerful strengths to become the best global marketplace for buyers and sellers through a technology-led reimagination.” Technology-based leadership is highlighted in this corporate vision statement. The factors in eBay’s vision statement are as follows:
- Building on powerful strengths
- Becoming the best global marketplace
- Technology-led reimagination
The first factor of eBay’s vision statement refers to business development using the company’s strengths. These strengths are based on the company’s information technologies and market position relative to other e-commerce or online marketplace firms. Such strengths include high brand value and the core competencies and competitive advantages stated in the SWOT analysis of eBay Inc. The corporate vision statement also presents the goal of making the company the best online marketplace in the world. Achieving this position comes with the objective of surpassing the performance of competitors, like Amazon, Walmart Marketplace, and Meta’s Facebook Marketplace. Thus, the vision statement requires strategies for addressing the high level of competition in the industry, as noted in the Five Forces analysis of eBay Inc. Moreover, technology should be at the core of the business development, as specified in the corporate vision statement. The company needs to use technological reimagination. This factor of eBay’s vision statement highlights the significance of technological innovation for enhancing the efficiency and convenience of the online marketplace.
Strategic Implications of eBay’s Corporate Mission & Corporate Vision
The corporate mission and vision statements provide a realistic and accurate overview of the company and its online operations. The value proposition of “economic opportunity” is included in eBay’s mission statement. This value proposition attracts customers (sellers and buyers) to the company’s marketplace and online auction platform. Thus, it is expected that the e-commerce business will focus on strategies and goals for improving or creating new economic opportunities that it can offer to customers. On the other hand, eBay’s vision statement specifies technological reimagination for the goal of making the business an industry leader. Going forward with this goal, the company is expected to increase its market presence, improve its online services, integrate multinational operations, and introduce new products or services. Overall, eBay’s corporate vision and mission statements are focused on making the company more competitive in the global e-commerce market.
References
- eBay Inc. – Form 10-K.
- eBay Inc. – Our Purpose in Action.
- eBay Inc. – Rules and Policies.
- Jaworski, B., & Cheung, V. (2023). Getting Started on the Journey: Mission, Vision, and Purpose. In Creating the Organization of the Future (pp. 55-64). Emerald Publishing Limited.
- Reid, S. E., & Crawford, C. B. (2022). Crafting the Vision Statement. In Entrepreneurial Vision: A Guide for Charting and Implementing the Visioning Process (pp. 263-276). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
- Toh, S. Y., Tehseen, S., Mahmoud, A. B., Cheok, J., Grigoriou, N., & Opute, J. (2022). Mission statement effectiveness: Investigating managers’ sensemaking role. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 27(2), 329-345.
- U.S. Department of Commerce – International Trade Administration – Retail Trade Industry.