Changing business objectives –
Facebook
• When companies grow their
objectives and expectations
change  from MIT college
room to $multi-billion global
company ($408.50b!) and 1.5b
users
• Growth is often associated with
three specific strategies:
– Vertical integration
• Control supplies
• Guarantee access to market
– Horizontal integration
• Greater market share
• Economics of scale
• Different segment of market
opens up
– Conglomerate integration
• Entirely different market(s)
• Cars….
Facebook, organisational growth
and changes of strategy
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Working in teams of two or three you need to research, consolidate and present a case study
of Facebook’s growth since inception
Focus on the following areas:
a)
Mergers/ alliances/ take-overs since inception using horizontal, vertical and/or
conglomerate
b)
Business growth in users/market value/business operations (where in the world) over
time
c)
Problems with Facebook growth – concerns, fears, anxieties
d)
The future of Facebook – make some future assumptions about what Facebook 2020
might look like
You will need at least 10 credible sources listed in a joint bibliography
To be presented back Tuesday 25th April.
Start here  https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/feb/04/facebook-innumbers-statistics
Here  https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebookusers-worldwide/
And here  https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/01/facebook-q4-2016-earnings/
Changing business objectives and business growth – extended case study
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Making money from social media is fraught with difficulties
Consider Facebook – it needs to make money from Instagram and Whatsapp if the business is to
succeed.
Research and produce another document using the title:
– How does/will Instagram and Whatsapp will make money for facebook
Look at the whole list of acquisitions by Facebook – are you impressed? Does the company it
bought look like a money-making business? Choose three companies you DON’T KNOW then
research them:
– This is what [my company] does
– This is how [my company] could make revenue for Facebook
Review this approach to how Google makes its revenue
– How does Google make it’s money?
– How will Google continue to make it’s money?
– Can Instagram and Whatsapp just do what Google will do? Explain your reasoning.
No more than two sides (like the FB handout we saw) so we can share the work around easily