Groupon
Groupon is an e-commerce marketplace that connects consumers with merchants by offering discounts to various products and services (About). Groupon’s mission is to “connect local commerce, increasing consumer buying power while driving more business to local merchants through price and discovery” (About). The company values its employees, excellence and excitement, improvement, and its customers- “both consumers looking for great experiences at a greater value and merchants seeking solutions to attract more customers and run their business better” (About). Groupon is ranked as the fastest startup company to achieve a billion-dollar valuation; the company possessed a $1.35 billion valuation after it raised $135 million in 17 months after …show more content…
The company’s potential “strategic transactions include acquisitions and dispositions of businesses, joint ventures, technologies, services, products and other assets and minority investments” (Groupon). However, expanding internationally is risky. Licensing is uncertain because intellectual property protection may not be available in every country, and domain name regulations may not protect the company’s trademarks and other proprietary rights (Groupon). Consequently, the company may not be able to prevent third parties from acquiring and using similar domain names and registering its trademarks. Thus, third parties that license the company’s intellectual property rights may diminish the value of the company’s proprietary rights or reputation (Groupon). Like licensing, acquisitions involve risks, which include “uncertainties as to the future financial performance of the acquired business, difficulties integrating personnel and systems, and the potential loss of key employees, customers and suppliers, and exposure to unknown liabilities of acquired companies” (Groupon). Additionally, acquisitions may divert management’s time and company’s resources, and reduce cash availability or cause debt. The risk of strategic alliances is the inability to “exert control over its joint ventures, and therefore being dependent on others in order to realize their potential benefits” (Groupon). Accordingly, Groupon’s joint venture in China was not successful. If I was the CEO at Groupon, I would enter foreign markets through wholly-owned affiliates, because the company’s “trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets, proprietary technology, merchants and subscribers lists, sales methodology, and intellectual property” are critical to the company’s success (Groupon). In 2015, the company acquired thirteen businesses to “grow its merchant
Groupon is an e-commerce marketplace that connects consumers with merchants by offering discounts to various products and services (About). Groupon’s mission is to “connect local commerce, increasing consumer buying power while driving more business to local merchants through price and discovery” (About). The company values its employees, excellence and excitement, improvement, and its customers- “both consumers looking for great experiences at a greater value and merchants seeking solutions to attract more customers and run their business better” (About). Groupon is ranked as the fastest startup company to achieve a billion-dollar valuation; the company possessed a $1.35 billion valuation after it raised $135 million in 17 months after …show more content…
The company’s potential “strategic transactions include acquisitions and dispositions of businesses, joint ventures, technologies, services, products and other assets and minority investments” (Groupon). However, expanding internationally is risky. Licensing is uncertain because intellectual property protection may not be available in every country, and domain name regulations may not protect the company’s trademarks and other proprietary rights (Groupon). Consequently, the company may not be able to prevent third parties from acquiring and using similar domain names and registering its trademarks. Thus, third parties that license the company’s intellectual property rights may diminish the value of the company’s proprietary rights or reputation (Groupon). Like licensing, acquisitions involve risks, which include “uncertainties as to the future financial performance of the acquired business, difficulties integrating personnel and systems, and the potential loss of key employees, customers and suppliers, and exposure to unknown liabilities of acquired companies” (Groupon). Additionally, acquisitions may divert management’s time and company’s resources, and reduce cash availability or cause debt. The risk of strategic alliances is the inability to “exert control over its joint ventures, and therefore being dependent on others in order to realize their potential benefits” (Groupon). Accordingly, Groupon’s joint venture in China was not successful. If I was the CEO at Groupon, I would enter foreign markets through wholly-owned affiliates, because the company’s “trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets, proprietary technology, merchants and subscribers lists, sales methodology, and intellectual property” are critical to the company’s success (Groupon). In 2015, the company acquired thirteen businesses to “grow its merchant