Running head: EXPEDIA INC.

STRATEGIC PLAN

Expedia Inc. Strategic Plan

Isabella (Yinqi) Lai

Royal Roads University

MATM

2017/5/7

IHMN650 Strategic Planning for Tourism

Instructor: Bill Lewis

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EXPEDIA INC. STRATEGIC PLAN
Table of Contents
Overview ..........................................................................................................................................3

Current Strategy ...............................................................................................................................3

Growth Strategy ...................................................................................................................4

Technology and product innovation. .......................................................................4

Global expansion. ....................................................................................................6

New Channel penetration. ........................................................................................6

Situation Analysis ............................................................................................................................7

Internal Analysis ..................................................................................................................7

Strengths ..................................................................................................................8

Weaknesses ..............................................................................................................9

External Analysis ...............................................................................................................10

Opportunities..........................................................................................................10

Threats....................................................................................................................11

Summary ............................................................................................................................11

Strategy Formulation .....................................................................................................................12

Strategic Alternatives .........................................................................................................12

Recommended Strategy .....................................................................................................14

Strategy Implementation ................................................................................................................15

Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................16

References ......................................................................................................................................17
Appendix A SWOT Analysis of Expedia Inc. ...............................................................................19
Appendix B STEEP Analysis of Expedia Inc. ...............................................................................20
Appendix C Porter Five Forces Analysis of Expedia Inc. .............................................................21
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EXPEDIA INC. STRATEGIC PLAN
Overview
Expedia, an online travel booking site which used to be within Microsoft, launched in 1996.

Expedia Inc. is an Online Travel Agency (OTA) in North America evolved from Expedia.com,

plays a leading role in empowering business and travelers to utilize technology in travel research,

planning, booking and experience (Annual Report, 2016). With a dynamic portfolio of 16 brands

under the umbrella of Expedia Inc. including Expedia, Hotels.com, Expedia Affiliate Network

(EAN), Trivago, HomeAway, Egencia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotwire, Wotif Group, Expedia Media

Solutions, CarRentals, Classic Vacations, Expedia Local Expert, Expedia Cruise Ship Centers, and

Traveldoo, Expedia Inc. has the worlds broadest supply including 385,000 properties, over 500

airlines, over 25,000 destination services and activities, car rental companies as well as cruise lines

(Expedia Inc., 2017). In 2017, Expedia, Inc. was named as one of the 30 Best Workplaces in

Technology by Fortune Magazine (Expedia Inc., 2017).

In order to reach the strategic goals of revolutionizing travel through the power of

technology, Expedia Inc. has adapted growth strategy by means of technology and product

innovation, global expansion and new channel penetration (Annual Report, 2016). Although

Expedia Inc. is one of the most powerful OTAs in the world with internal strength and external

development opportunities, Expedia Inc. is still facing the threats such as from the competitors

Priceline and TripAdvisor. The difficulties of entering specific new markets are also challenging

Expedia Inc. To ensure the sustainable growth and avoid the negative impact of the threats, a

recommended strategy will be proposed to Expedia Inc.

Current Strategy
Expedia Inc., the worlds largest online travel company, aims at owning and powering the

best travel brands in the world (Expedia Inc., 2017). Technology and product innovation, customer

loyalty, global expansion, and channel penetration will be the main focuses of the growth drivers
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EXPEDIA INC. STRATEGIC PLAN
(Expedia Inc., 2017). The goals of Expedia Inc. lie in achieving the competitive advantages by

being the the best supply position in the world, scaling in the world-class technology and

operations platforms, and gathering the unsurpassed intelligence from the smart teams (Expedia

Inc., 2017). Strategic level decisions set the long-term direction for the organization to achieve the

competitive advantages (Evans, 2015). Expedia appoints the above goals which set the strategic

foundation for long-term development. According to Evans (2015), tactical level decisions are

relating to meet the strategic priorities and implementing the strategies. Expedias tactical level

decisions properly corresponding to the strategic level. From the annual report (2016), Expedia

Inc. is working on the growth strategy in terms of product innovation, global expansion and new

channel penetration.

Growth Strategy
According to Evans (2015), the Ansoff matrix is the most common model for directing

organizations to growth strategy. From Ansoff (1987), there are four alternatives which involve

two variables components: products and markets to achieve the growth strategy. They are market

penetration which increases market share in the existing market with the existing products, market

development which explore the new market with the existing products, products development

which develop new products in the existing markets, and diversification which develop new

products to serve new markets (Ansoff, 1987). In Expedia Inc.s strategy, all four dimensions of

growth strategy have been utilized in terms of technology and product innovation, global

expansion and new channel penetration to achieve the strategic growth. Scaling the business and

drive down the costs are also part of Expedia Inc.s growth strategy because trimming margins

could attract new hotels in the emerging markets and convince the existing hotel suppliers to

provide better inventory (Schaal, 2015).

Technology and product innovation.

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Expedia Inc. as the online travelling company, online services are its core product and

technologies innovation is the key to achieving competitiveness. In order to improve the product

which is the services experience, Expedia Inc. develops new technologies to deliver better service

experience to the customers. In the past several years, Expedia Inc. focused on powering the

technology, supply and customer service to the products at a faster pace, especially the platforms

developed by the new functions and globally launch. For example, Hotels.com and the Brand

Expedias new global platforms launch enable the services to drive growth rates in the new markets.

Also, the Travelocity-branded sites after shifting to the Expedia technology platform started to

offer services in the US and Canada (Annual Report, 2016).

Apart from developing new technologies to strengthen competitiveness, Expedia Inc.

adopted merging and acquisitions Strategy to achieve horizontal product development. Through

acquiring the Travelocity brand, Orbitz Worldwide, and HomeAway Inc. in the past two years

(Annual Report, 2016), Expedia Inc. expanded its product lines into a broader spectrum including

hotels, cheap flights, cruise ship, car rentals, destination activities and vacation rental to the

existing markets. Moreover, the investment in the joint venture with AirAsia opens up a new

pattern to align with airlines for offering the flight options.

Expedia Inc. also develops its product vertically in enhancing the depth of the services. To

satisfy the different needs of customers, Expedia Inc. enriches its services in different platforms

focusing on different target markets. Generally, travel is the leisure behavior. Most travelling

services target the leisure travelers but miss an important segment of business travel. Engencia is

the brand under Expedia Inc. targeting business travelers. When most of the OTAs are competing

on lower price, Expedia Inc. offers premier vacation through Classic Vacation brand for the high-

end market. Also, Expedia Inc. provides products for the wholesale market. Expedia was originally
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a business to customers (b2c) online travelling platform. In order to reach the wholesale market

and leverage the inventory, Expedia Inc. created the EAN to realize the business to business (b2b)

partnership.

Global expansion.

Since the launch of Expedia.com in 1996, Expedia Inc. has made the ambitions in

extending the global reach, so that leveraging the significant investment in technology, operations,

brand building and supplier relations have been planned strategically. Through owning the diverse

brand portfolios, Expedia Inc. expands globally which mostly attained by merging and acquisition.

Except the primary brands of Expedia family including Expedia, Hotels.com, Egencia, and EAN

of are operating in the US and international points of sale in Europe, Asia Pacific, Canada and

Latin America, the rest of brands were strategically merged and acquired. The acquisition of Wotif

Group which completed in 2014 open the Australian market expansion for Expedia Inc. (Annual

Report, 2016). Owning the majority share of Trivago enable Expedia Inc. to explore the

competitive Europe market in seeking global opportunities (Annual Report, 2016). In addition,

having the commercial agreements with Ctrip and eLong in China as well as Decolar in Latin

America (Annual Report, 2016) offers opportunities to learn these markets with different cultures

and lays the foundation for long-term expansion.

New channel penetration.

In the past few years, mobile devices have been leading technological innovations and

developments to create new opportunities for online travel bookings (Annual Report, 2016). As

consumers are more likely to complete the last-minute booking nowadays, travel bookings through

mobile electronic devices present an opportunity for incremental growth (Annual Report, 2016).

According to the Annual Report (2016), Expedia Inc. had progress in creating new mobile websites
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and applications for all the brands. Expedia Incs chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi also

indicated that social platforms are the popular wave which should not overlook, so Expedia Inc. is

aggressively experimenting them, especially in voice interaction on a platform basis (Tnooz, 2016).

From Khosrowshahi, Expedia Inc. realizes building the unstructured voice search queries and

producing the structured search results is necessary for the future growth (Tnooz, 2016). In

addition, the situation of cross-device usage between websites and mobile apps in travel planning

process has increased (Annual Report, 2016). It also reported that mobile booking of Expedia Inc.

contributed approximately one third globally in 2016 (Annual Report, 2016). Therefore, Expedia

Inc. regards mobile platforms as an efficient marketing channel to drive traffic (Annual Report,

2016) and sales in this decade.

Situation Analysis
According to Morrison (2010), the analysis of marketing opportunities and problems is

the foundation for starting and sustaining a successful business (p.134). Having the situation

analysis which studies the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of Expedia

Inc., would have a better understanding of the comparative and competitive advantages. Through

analyzing the internal and external situation, it would assist to utilize the existent resources

effectively and seize for the future opportunities more easily.

Internal Analysis
From Evans (2015), an internal analysis is to provide the detailed understanding of the

effectiveness of current strategies and resources allocation. Generally, an internal analysis will

consist the analysis of the resources, competencies, internal activities in value chain analysis, and

products and position in the market (Evans, 2015). The analysis of strengths and weaknesses of

Expedia Inc. would lie in the above internal factors to explore the broader understanding of the

current situation.
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Strengths.

In terms of resources, Expedia Inc. has a broad variety of strong suppliers supporting the

diverse products and services all over the world. After the merging and acquisition in the recent

year, Expedia Inc. is operating 16 travel brands reaching over 200 countries (Annual Report, 2016).

The availability of products covers a variety of hotels and accommodations, airlines, car rental

companies, cruise line and destination services which almost cover every sector in the tourism

industry. Especially in hotels sector, Expedia Inc. has been working with the world largest hotel

chains. Since September 2016, Expedia Inc. started to power the vacation packages for the

Vacations by Marriott which Expedia provides technology and transportation and Marriott

provides the hotel options (Schaal, 2016). Also, the various brands enable Expedia Inc. to provide

the mixed price products to different target markets which maximize the coverage for the market

demand. With the broad profile of brands and strong supplier partnership, Expedia Inc. becomes

influential and grows the power of bargaining in the industry.

For competencies, Expedia Inc. has grown into the world-leading online travel company

with highly regarded brand awareness, enormous economic scale, and advanced innovative

technology. Expedia has been a well-known brand name since its establishment in 1996 because

of its success and positive reputation as a pioneer of OTA. With over 1.2 million online bookable

vacation rental listing in the world, Expedia Inc. has grown its size into over 16 brands, 200 travel

booking sites and more than 150 mobile websites in 35 languages (Annual Report, 2016). In

economic scale, the revenue of Expedia Inc. reached 8.77 billion USD (Statista, 2017).

According to the Annual Report (2016), the aggregate market value of the registrants common

equity held by non-affiliates was over $12 billion in June 2016 (P4). In technology development,

Expedia Inc. made key investments in developing technology platforms to deliver innovations at
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a faster pace (Annual Report, 2016). Expedia Inc. owns the award-winning mobile apps and the

world-class technology platforms which enable travelers to have access to the latest technology

and enjoy the online service experience (Annual Report, 2016).

Weaknesses.

Even though Expedia Inc. has a strong profile as one of the dominating OTAs, there are

still several weaknesses should be concerned. As an OTA, the most valuable entities of Expedia

Inc. possessed are the online platforms. Comparing to other sectors of the tourism industry, most

of them owned physical entities such as hotels possess the building, airlines owned the planes and

theme parks owned the entertaining infrastructures. However, Expedia Inc. is using the low-cost

business model which only possesses the intangible entities. Therefore, in terms of resources,

Expedia Inc. is heavily relying on suppliers because suppliers provide the products for the

platforms to sell. It causes the bargaining power of suppliers is high in the value chain. In terms of

competencies, the platforms of Expedia Inc. are highly dependent on the search engine which

means Expedia Inc. has to undertake the risks caused by the drawbacks of the search engine

method.

As using the low-cost business model and high reliance on suppliers, Expedia Inc. is also

easy to be substituted. New entrants can start easily with creating the similar websites if they have

the supplier resources and probably offering lower prices to complete. The easy replication of the

business also results in the fierce rivalry between Expedia Inc. and competitors, such as Priceline

and Tripadvisor. In addition, many well-known companies in the tourism industry which have

strong capabilities started to enhance direct booking. Since late 2015, hotel chains like Marriott

and Hilton have been advertising that loyalty program members could get cheaper room rate if

they book through the websites directly (Schaal, 2016). As a result, consumers have growing
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power to decide which booking ways they prefer. Therefore, in the value chain, the threat of new

entrants, the threat of substitution, the power of buyers and the rivalry among businesses in the

industry are respectively high for Expedia Inc.

External Analysis
From the macro-environment, a number of factors are not only influencing the organization

itself, but also affecting the whole industry (Evans, 2015). Having a comprehensive external

analysis helps the organization to handle the effects caused by the environment, which ensures

the strategies are implemented appropriately (Evans, 2015). From Evans (2015), STEEP is the

most widely used tool for macro-environment analysis. It includes the factors of social,

technological, economic, environmental and political influences (Evans, 2015). The external

analysis of Expedia Inc. will continue analyzing the opportunities and threats elements of SWOT

with evaluating the five factors of STEEP.

Opportunities.
In the sociocultural aspect, the internet has become part of peoples life. Online purchase

is a habit in current lifestyle which Expedia Inc. has positive prospect in doing online business. In

addition, the idea of sharing economy is gradually acceptable by the public which lays a good

foundation to develop the HomeAway platform. In the technological factors, the growing internet

penetration and popularity of mobile devices are beneficial to Expedia Inc. because it invests

significantly on platform technology and mobile services to ensure the quality of the buying

experience. In the economic factors, the strong US currency and the decline of fuel cost encourage

the American to travel which provides Expedia Inc. the opportunities to offer services. Politically,

the simplification of visa application and governments support for tourism such as the Travel

Promotion Act 2009 (Visit California, n.d.) are positively influencing Expedia Inc. in generating

travel booking.
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Threats.
The STEEP factors which create opportunities for Expedia Inc. could also challenge

Expedia Inc.s growth strategy. In terms of sociocultural, the demographic of online users is mostly

the generation X and the millennials, but the baby boomer generation is the one who has money

and time to travel. The online character of Expedia Inc. possibly causes the absence of the users

of this generation. As mentioned before, Expedia Inc. has the dependence on search engine

technology which could become a threat. In the fast pace of technology evolvement, relying on

the sole technology is dangerous because competitors may invent a brand-new technology which

can totally change the situation of the industry. In economic factors, the seasonality of tourism

industry and direct booking promotion from the suppliers are the challenges to Expedia Inc.s

economic growth because the unstable receipts may affect the merging and acquisition plans.

Environmentally, the waste and pollution from hotels and airlines are still the issues for the

environmentalist. They also negatively influence Expedia Inc. because Expedia Inc. is mostly

selling airline tickets and hotel rooms. Lastly, in the political factors such as the travel ban which

greatly affected on tourism industry including Expedia Inc. In addition, sharing economy is still a

controversial issue which needs certain policies to regulate. It would directly influence the

development of the HomeAway platform.

Summary
The situation analysis of Expedia Inc. can be concluded in the SWOT model (Appendix

A), STEEP model (Appendix B) and the Porters five forces model (Appendix C). As Expedia Inc.

has the strong resources and competencies base, it enables Expedia Inc. to grow the power of

bargaining in the industry. To a certain extent, it helps Expedia Inc. to avoid the risks result from

the weaknesses. Expedia Inc. follows the fast-growing trend of online purchase and mobile

booking which lay the foundation for its success. This trend would continue to generate the
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opportunities for Expedia Inc. but it would be more competitive and requires advanced technology

innovation. The economic threats which cause the unstable economy receipts would be the major

influence challenging Expedia Inc.s existing strategy to achieve the long-term goals. Also, the

easy substitution drives Expedia Inc. to be differentiated from the competition. In order to

overcome the threats and take advantage of the opportunities, Expedia Inc. could optimize the

existing strategy by adding the following alternative strategic elements.

Strategy Formulation
Currently, Expedia Inc. is adopting the growth strategy through product innovation, global

expansion, and new channel penetration. After comparing the situation analysis, although Expedia

Inc.s growth strategy help avoiding some of the threats and weakness and grow the strength to

seize the opportunities, there are still other feasible options that Expedia Inc. could optimize the

strength and create more developing space.

Strategic Alternatives
Porter (1985) introduced the generic strategy framework which is useful in providing

insights into competitive advantages. In the framework, the cost leadership strategy, differentiation

strategy, and focus strategy (Porter, 1985) can also apply to Expedia Inc.s development options.

Cost leadership strategy.

Expedia Inc. could adopt the cost leadership strategy to achieve the growth. As Expedia

Inc. has the broad profile brands with various products and resources around the world, it is capable

for Expedia Inc. to combine the existing services with a competitive price. Through providing the

comprehensive package options, the hotel and flight booking can drive the sales of other products

such as car rental and attractions. The more variety of products that consumers choose, the larger

discount they can get. By offering the lower price on packages, Expedia Inc. could generate
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consumers spend more money on the platform in achieving the economies of scales by high-

volume sales.

The advantages of this strategy lie in providing more packages options for customers, the

sales volume runs faster and generating higher consumption to the platform. However, it may be

followed by competitors because on-line travel platform is price competitive. It can be imitated

easily if the competitors also have a broad variety of product resources.

Differentiation strategy.

Adopting differentiation strategy is another alternative for Expedia Inc.s growth. From

Evans (2015), differentiation strategy focuses on upgrading products to a superior level. In

Expedia Inc. which have a broad variety of products, offering superior services to the customers

could help it to achieve differentiation in the competitive market. To enhance the convenience of

online purchasing, Expedia Inc. can integrate the similar function sub-brands into one platform to

provide an all-in-one platform services. Instead of booking on several platforms for different

products of the specific destination, booking directly on one platform for all the products and

services would offer great convenience for travelers. Moreover, applying Online to Offline (O2O)

strategy could be the differentiated methods to upgrade the customer service. Tomes (2016)

indicated that the offline presence is the complement of the online channels. O2O development

can truly leverage the engagement for customers (Tomes, 2016). Customers feel they receive more

value from shopping in the physical stores than shopping online because the offline services

normally provide more convenience, personalisation, and engagement (Tomes, 2016). Offering

offline service points would be the key to differentiating other online travel platforms which could

offer a more comprehensive customer service no matter before or after the sale.
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The differentiation strategy can generate the benefits for Expedia Inc including enhancing

the comparative advantages in customer experience, gathering the loyalty members from the

original sub-brands, leverage the customer engagement and creates an additional barrier for new

entrants. However, the operation cost of applying the differentiation strategy would increase which

may cause a higher products price. It may result in losing the price sensitive customers.

Focus strategy.

Expedia Inc. can also consider the focus strategy to enhance the depth of the major

marketing. As Expedia Inc. started with strong hotel resources in North America, it could develop

the profession in hotel sectors by integrating hotel entities. Since Expedia Inc. has plenty of

experience in merging, acquiring as well as integrating by the joint-venture, merging with hotel

brands would enhance the strength in terms of resources. Owning hotel brands enable the sufficient

inventory for the platforms, which ease the reply on other suppliers.

The pros. of the focus strategy would be the enhancement on competencies by owning

physical entities instead of all intangible entities, lessening the power of suppliers, building the

brand awareness of the specialization in the specific sectors, and domaining certain hotel resources

in the market. However, the limitation of product variety expansion and the high cost of investment

would be the cons for the focus strategy.

Recommended Strategy
Considering Expedia Inc.s strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and the threats

that it is facing, it is recommended Expedia Inc. to select the differentiation strategy for further

development. As Expedia Inc. is adopting the growth strategy which achieved its nowadays

success, the differentiation strategy would be a beneficial supplement along with the growth

strategy. Being differentiated creates more development space to seize the opportunities. It helps

to differentiate Expedia Inc. from the rivalry among the competitors with offering different buying
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experience. The superior service could also enhance the reputation of the Expedia brand so that it

influences the consumer behavior in decision making. In addition, the online and offline interaction

extends the target market coverage on baby boomer who has great potential in consuming travel

products. With setting up the offline service points, it increases the cost of the business model

which establish the barriers for being substituted. The differentiation strategy would largely

enhance the competencies of Expedia Inc. which is the major reason to recommend it.

Strategy Implementation
From Evans (2015), to successfully implement a strategy, the aspects of resources,

configuration and change should be considered. For Expedia Inc. implementing the differentiation

strategy which is to upgrade the customer experience, it is necessary to follow the above three

aspects to ensure better implementation. First, Expedia Inc. should consider managing and

reallocating the existing resources and develop the new resources. The resources include physical

resources, financial resources, human resources and intangible resources (Evans, 2015). For the

brand integration development, managing the existing intangible resources would be essential as

Expedia Inc. has a broad variety of products resources all over the world. Also, improving the

existing Expedia.com platform enlarges the potential to integrate all the brands and products

because it ensures that the all-in-one platform has the capacity of holding the integration. For the

O2O development, Expedia Inc. should develop the physical resources, financial resources and

human resources. Due to the O2O development involve the physical entity, Expedia Inc. should

also prepare the site selection, off-line employee recruitment and the budget planning.

Secondly, Expedia Inc. should also pay attention to the configuration of culture and

structure. When Expedia Inc. integrate the sub-brands into the all-in-one platform, the cultures of

the sub-brand should also be considered to merge. To accord the Expedia brand culture, the offline

service points should correspond the online culture. Also, the organizational structure should
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adjust with adding the offline component but the adjustment should be still appropriate for Expedia

Inc. in achieving the long-term goals. Thirdly, considering the managing and leading change,

Expedia Inc. should still implement the growth strategy as the foundation and apply the

differentiation strategy as the complement. The change would lead to the evolvement, meanwhile,

Expedia Inc. should still pursue the long-term goals constantly.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Expedia Inc. could achieve its ambitions through implementing the

strategies. Expedia Inc. sets the long-term goals of owning and powering the best travel brands in

the world (Expedia Inc., 2017). In order to reach the goals, Expedia Inc. is implementing the

growth strategy currently. Through analyzing the situation, there are some threats and weaknesses

challenging Expedia Inc. and the existing growth strategy. To enlarge the growth strategy, enhance

the strength of Expedia Inc. itself in seizing the external opportunities and overcome the threats

and weaknesses, it is recommended for Expedia Inc. to adopt the differentiation strategy adding

on the growth strategy. By developing the brands integration all-in-one platform and the O2O

strategic approaches, Expedia Inc. could upgrade the service experience to differentiate from the

competitors. Both approaches would help Expedia Inc. to accomplish the growth in the market.

Most importantly, both approaches are aiming at the goals of the organization. No matter what

methods to proceed, the strategies should always follow the direction of the organizational goals.
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References
Annual Report. (2016). Annual Reports. Retrieved from Expedia Inc.:

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/EXPE/4401132722x0x940178/CA6490D7-8F56-

4294-8EFD-F79F75807C44/2016_Annual_Report.pdf

Ansoff, I. (1987). Corporate Strategy, London: Penguin.

Euromonitor International. (2009, March). Expedia Inc. Retrieved from Euromonitor

International: http://www.siimt.com/work/models/siimt/Resource/1098/expedia.pdf

Expedia Inc. (2017). Mission, Vision and Values. Retrieved from Expedia Inc.:

http://www.expediainc.com/about/mission-vision-values/

Morrison, Alastair M. (2010). Hospitality and Travel Marketing (4th ed.). Toronto: Cengage

Learning.

Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance.

1985. New York: FreePress.

Schaal, D. (2015, May 1). Expedias CEO Has a Formula to Beat Rivals Through Acquisitions

and Growth. Retrieved from Skift: https://skift.com/2015/05/01/expedia-ceo-has-a-

formula-to-beat-rivals-through-acquisitions-and-growth/

Schaal, D. (2016, March 15). Challenges in Travel Booking 2016: What Can Expedia Do For An

Encore? Retrieved from Skift: https://skift.com/2016/03/15/challenges-in-travel-booking-

2016-expedia/

Schaal, D. (2016, September 6). Expedia Is Now Helping Marriott Sell Hotels on the Chains

Website. Retrieved from Skift: https://skift.com/2016/09/06/expedia-is-now-helping-

marriott-sell-hotels-on-the-chains-website/

Statista. (2017). Revenue of Expedia Inc. worldwide from 2007 to 2016. Retrieved from Statista:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/269387/revenue-of-expedia/
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Tnooz. (2016, November 17). Expedias CEO talks long-term strategy. Retrieved from Tnooz:

https://www.tnooz.com/article/expedia-Dara-Khosrowshahi-2016/

Tomes, P. (2016, April 29). What are the main benefits of an O2O strategy? Retrieved from

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-main-benefits-o2o-strategy-paul-tomes

EXPEDIA INC. STRATEGIC PLAN
Appendix A. SWOT Analysis of Expedia Inc.
Strengths
Broad brands profile (world-wide)
Strong suppliers resource
Mix price platforms
Popular brand name and positive reputation
Enormous economic scale
Advanced technology investment
Low-cost business model
Opportunities
The trend of on-line purchase habit
Growing embracement of the sharing
economy (HomeAway)
Growing internet penetration, popularity of
mobile devices
Strong US dollors, lower oil price
Demand from the emerging markets
Government support on tourism: Travel
Promotion Act (2009)
Less restrictions on visa process
19
Weaknesses
Intangible entities
Heavy reliance on suppliers
Dependence on search engine
Easily substituted
Growing power of buyers
Rivalry among competitors
Threats
Demographic differences: Baby Boomers
Fast change technology, threats from
competitors
Direct booking to the hotels or airlines
Seasonality influence stable income
Waste and pollution on hotels and airlines
Sharing economy regulations (HomeAway)
Travel ban
Disasters (war, terrorism, diseases)
(Euromonitor International, 2009)
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Appendix B. STEEP Analysis of Expedia Inc.

Social The trend of on-line purchase habit

Growing embracement of the sharing economy (HomeAway)

Demographic differences: miss Baby Boomers market

Technological Growing internet penetration

Popularity of mobile devices

Fast change technology, threats from competitors

Economic Strong US dollors

Lower fuel cost
Direct booking to the hotels or airlines
Seasonality of tourism industry
Environmental Waste and pollution on hotels and airlines

Political Government support on tourism: Travel Promotion Act (2009)

Less restrictions on visa process
Regulating Sharing economy (HomeAway)
Travel ban
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Appendix C. Porter Five Forces Analysis of Expedia Inc.

Thread of
new
entrants
(Med-High)

Rivalry
Power of Threat of
among
suppliers substitution
competitors
(Med-High) (Med-High)
(High)

Power of
buyers
(Low-Med)