New Product and Service Innovation at Yahoo!: A Detailed Analysis

This report provides an analysis of Yahoo!'s new product and service innovation, examining the company's background, market position, and acquisition by Verizon. It delves into the factors influencing Yahoo!'s innovation efforts, including the importance of product development methodologies and the impact of open innovation strategies. The report also explores challenges faced by Yahoo!, such as the lack of a clear direction and internal communication issues. Furthermore, it highlights key learnings, including the understanding of factors impacting new product development and the company's focus on employee efficiency. The report concludes by acknowledging difficulties in data collection and team cooperation during the research process, while referencing various sources to support its findings.

New product and service
innovation
Scholar ID:

Background on the company/market
• Yahoo! is a web service provider that is established in
the year of 1995.
• In the year of 2017, Verizon communication has
acquired Yahoo.

Cont’d
• Yahoo! facilitates the search engine and portal
associated services.
• In current times, Yahoo facilitates over 20 products
and services.

Cont’d
• Yahoo site has over 7 billion opinions per month.
• It creates a wider range of news as well as media site.
• Yahoo provides multi-lingual boundary.
• This report analyses the new product development.
processes as well as practices.

Factors that are important for their NPD/NPDS

Cont’d

Cont’d
• There are different factor that may influence the
effectiveness of the company in terms of innovation
and offering of a new products.
• Yahoo should use product development
methodologies.
• The company can encourage consistency as well as
avoids the repetition across the products.

How can they improve
• . As one of ex-workforce Michelle Sollicito, there is
lack of Yahoo’s innovation because it never had
higher CTO.
• There is a need for clear direction in Yahoo.
• According to CEO Mayer, open innovation is been
injected and it can be a major factor that aids in
avoiding the struggle of the company.

Cont’d
• There is specific accountability regarding uplifting the
goodwill as well as an image of the firm.
• Moreover, freedom in relation to creativity is strict
policies.

What have you learnt
• I have developed my understanding regarding factors
and practices that may impact on new product
development.
• Moreover, I have increased my understanding that
Yahoo focuses on increasing the effectiveness as well
as the efficiency of its employees.

Cont’d
• I have faced difficulties in data collection about the
company due to lack of resources.
• During the research, some of my team members did
not cooperate with me due to lack of
communication.

References
• Alexa,(2019). Alexa.com. Retrieved from https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/yahoo.com
• Andrew McDermott. (2019, Feb 28). ‘The top 7 management styles: which ones are most effective?’ [blog post]. Retrieved from
https://www.workzone.com/blog/management-styles/
• Chris Wofford. (2013, Nov 20). ‘5 key strategies for innovation from Yahoo! Ceo Marissa Mayer’ [blog post]. Retrieved from
http://blog.ecornell.com/5-key-strategies-for-innovation-from-yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer/
• Floren H, Frishammar J, Parida V, et al, (2018), Critical success factors in early new product development: a review and a conceptual model,
International Entrepreneurship and management journal 14, (2), pp 411-427 Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-017-0458-3
• Gabrielle Benefield. (2014). Scrum case studies. Retrieved from http://www.scrumcasestudies.com/yahoo/
• Gary P, Pisano. (2015). You need an innovation strategy. Retrieved from
http://cegllcstrategies.com/pdfs/You_Need_an_%20Innovation_Strategy_5.pdf
• Gerben van der P, Cees van B, Alfred K. (2013). Success and failure of innovation: a literature review. International journal of innovation management,
7 (3), 1-30.
• Jens Martin Skibsted. (2014 Mar 03). ‘Why open innovation could be Marissa Mayer’s downfall at yahoo?’ [blog post]. Retrieved from
https://www.fastcompany.com/1670416/why-open-innovation-could-be-marissa-mayers-downfall-at-yahoo
• Jones and Bartlett Learning LLC. (2015). Booz, Allen and Hamilton’s new product process. Retrieved from
http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763782610/82610_CH02_PASS02.pdf
• Michelle Solicito. (2015, June 13). Why Yahoo not as innovative as Google? [blog comment]. Retrieved from
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Yahoo-not-as-innovative-as-Google
• Nadia Bhuiyan. (2011). A framework for successful new product development. Journal of industrial engineering and management, 4 (4), 746-770.
Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jiem.334
• Shane Ferro, (2016, Feb 05). ‘Why a man is suing Yahoo for Sexism’ [blog post]. retrieved from
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mans-suing-yahoo-for-gender-bias_us_56b25e1ce4b08069c7a5d2ad
• The Economic Times. (2019). The Economic Times. Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/target-market