This document discusses eBay's organizational change to optimize its underlying technical infrastructure. It describes eBay's initial situation with strong growth but lagging infrastructure. The target situation aimed to improve energy efficiency, infrastructure utilization measurement, organization structure, and build a cloud architecture platform. Technical and social system analyses were conducted. Current improvements include optimized organization structure, workflow processes, and overall performance. Recommendations include investing in own technical R&D, culture transition, and business leadership support.

1. eBay - A Case Study of Organizational Change
Underlying Technical Infrastructure Optimization
Pouria Ghatrenabi 7050754
ADM 6279 Socio-Technical Change| Winter 2015
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2. Agenda
● Initial Situation
● Targeted Situation
● Analysis
o Technical System Analysis
o Social System Analysis
● Current Situation
● Recommendation
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3. Initial Situation
Strength Weaknesses
● Strong growth.
○ eBay is the biggest B2C and C2C
online marketplace before 2009
● Well-known strategies
○ CRM and acquisition
○ Good internal environment
● Lagging at the infrastructure
ownership and infrastructure
integration.
● Low Scalability of data centre
impacted the growth.
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4. Initial Situation
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Opportunities Threat
● Partnership with retail stores and
Increase operational efficiency to
address pressure
● Dean Nelson joined eBay at Sep, 2009
● Company competitions
● Securities and auction frauds; Less
control for rented data centre

5. Target Situation
1. Improve energy efficiency
2. Develop infrastructure utilization measurement
3. Optimize organization structure
4. Build cloud architecture platform
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6. 6
Improve Energy Efficiency

7. Develop Infrastructure Utilization Measurement
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● Apply it into individual & business unit Level
● Get insight about
o Performance for different infrastructures
o Infrastructure consumption by individuals and teams
● Motivate employees to work in a more efficient way

8. Optimize Organization Structure
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9. Optimize Technical Architecture
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● Build a standardized cloud architecture platform
o Provide server and network virtualization
o Streamline infrastructure design
o Automate configuration processes
o Standardize infrastructure deployment procedure

10. Technical System Analysis
● Units of Operations
● Business Workflow Diagram
● Variance Chart
● Variance Analysis Matrix
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11. Units of Operations
● Business Units
● Global Foundation Services Team
● Computer and Data Infrastructure Team
● Infrastructure Vendors
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12. BusinessWorkflowDiagram
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13. Variance Chart
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14. Variance Analysis Matrix
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15. ● Two Focal Roles
○ Global Foundation Service Team
○ Computer and Data Infrastructure Team
● Focal Role Networking Map
● GAIL Grid Analysis
Social System Analysis
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16. Focal Role Networking Map
Global
Foundation
Service Team
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17. Focal Role Networking Map
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Computer & Data
Infrastructure
Team

18. GAIL Grid Analysis
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19. Current Situation
● Organization Structure
● Workflow Process
● Overall Performance (DSE)
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20. Organization Structure
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Collaboration

21. CurrentWorkflowProcess
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22. Overall Performance
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DSE-Digital Service Efficiency

23. Recommendation
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24. Invest in Your Own Technical R&D
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25. 25

26. Culture Transition
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27. Business Leadership Support
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29. Reference
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● Electric Choice. (2013). Electricity Rates by State. Retrieved from https://www.electricchoice.com/electricity-prices-by-state/
● Nelson, D. (2013, November 21). eBay on the future of web-scale data centers. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkloFjX0WdY
● The Green Grid. (2012). Breaking New Ground on Data Center Efficiency. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1z2zFAm
● Schuetz, N., Kovaleva, A., & Koomey, J. (2013). eBay Inc.: A Case Study of Organizational Change Underlying Technical Infrastructure Optimization. Steyer-Taylor
Center for Energy Policy and Finance. Retrieved from http://goo.gl/qDf4rp
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