Lost In Translation: AOL Hits Snags In Brazil

There were two accounting policies used by AOL that were considered aggressive, as well as controversial. The first was to amortize its software development costs and the second was to capitalize subscriber acquisition costs.

The SWOT analysis is a method used by organisations as a marketing strategy to better understand and identify positive and negative factors effecting the business, in present and in the future  ( Elliott, Rundle-Thiele, Waller, 2010).  The purpose of this essay is to develop a SWOT analysis for Foxtel, which is a pay-TV company that was first introduced to the Australian market in October of 1995 (Kim Williams 2009).  Foxtel

In the U.S. versus AOL case, America Online and PurchasePro executives were accused of inflating revenue from software licenses. “Both parties were accused of accounting deceptions that led investors to believe that PurchasePro had met its sales projections when it had not, which led to an inflation of PurchasePro, Inc. stock prices (Easttom & Taylor, 2011)”. One of the various charges the executives received was wire fraud. Wire fraud is achieved through electronic trading and this is what classifies it as a computer crime. This crime is where the computer system is used as a way to commit the crime, not the goal of the crime itself (Easttom & Taylor, 2011). The goal of wire fraud is to take advantage of a

In 1988, a small German company named 1&1 acquired the marketing activities for BTX, the disturbed online service managed by T-Com (a sister concern of T-Mobile). The new corporation 1&1 decided to attempt something pioneering – a potential trademark of the company – and founded the initial main advertising campaign for an online service. The ads took the compound new technology and made it tempting and simple to understand. Interest raised and because of 1&1, BTX became the market head under its new name – T-Online. 1&1 had created a niche for itself as an innovative marketing company, but it also offered content for T-Online along with working in the expansion of new technologies and services. Along with others, 1&1 established the

In the editorial, “Verizon’s AOL deal: ISPs go searching for content,” the times editorial board argue it necessary for the FCC to remain neutrality to other ISPs. To show how the FCC did give preferential, some ISPs merge in with other mobile phone network, have Internet traffic, and lack of great services. Verizon, the mobile phone network, decides to buy the dial-up Internet service AOL, just for its expertise in the advertising field. AOL used to provide their subscribers with great website services, but overtime other ISPs start to provide better quality services. People, who develop the sites, argue that their ISPs provide bad services because the FCC favors their own sites and other ISPs that give them money. However, last February,

In the editorial “Verizon’s AOL deal: ISPs go searching for content”, by The Times Editorial Board, points out the important benefits that Verizon acquired by buying AOL, the most popular dial-up internet service in the country. The principal reasons of the agreement to buy AOL and the benefits they received are: AOL’s content business, the subscriber's exclusive content access, and the probability to have preferable treatment to sites and services for their customers. First, Verizon's smart move was to obtain primarily the business content from AOL. All the advertising tools from AOL are an important investment for the future of Verizon's strong standing. Another benefit that Verizon obtain from AOL was the subscribers

For us, the principal interest was around the ad tech platform,” said Verizon’s president of operations, John Stratton. With AOL, it was its mobile and video advertising technology that was the primary draw for Verizon. It is looking to capitalize on the shift of media viewing from traditional media to mobile devices and the move from traditional digital ads to programatic purchasing. Traditional media, TV and newspapers, are no longer getting the ad dollars of yesteryear. Mobile ad spending is expected to grow 50% this year to $28.7 billion, eMarketer estimates. Verizon estimates that mobile will account for 80 percent of consumers’ media consumption time in the coming

1. What accounting approach has AOL used in the past that it is now changing (related to the $385 million)?

     The telecommunications industry is a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide. The key success factors in this industry are hard to pin point, because they vary from having the right amount of money to having the right amount of customers. This industry is a very expensive industry to do research and development in. Besides the money required for R&D the companies in this business have to spend tremendous amount of capital on advertising and consumer awareness. The services provided by the different competitors in this industry are essentially the same but with very different reputations. AOL spends millions of dollars every year to send free trial C.D., in order to gain customer awareness. Which in turn shows the results as being very successful, making AOL the largest internet-service provider in the United States.

Share holders suffered even more, as stock prices plummeted from the time the merger was first announced. A major part of the failure of this merger was the fact that developing a “learning culture” was never considered, and no strategic vision was created for the newly merged organizations. For example Time Warner Cable’s high speed Internet services, Road Runner, as part of its profitable cable operations was never integrated with AOL as Case explained in his 2005 article in the Washington Post (6/ 11/05: B01). The first AOL Time Warner Annual Report (2000) claimed that it was fostering “… a nimble, entrepreneurial culture that recognizes that it can only succeed if everyone supports the new organization based on a shared set of values and common goals.” Unfortunately, the team-work necessary to integrate the two companies never happened, because there was no shared strategic vision of what the merger should be, and where it would be going. Merger Failure and the Need for a Culture of Learning According to some estimates, 85% of merger failures are related to the mismanagement of cultural issues. Awareness of cultural differences is then seen as an issue of primary concern when organizations merge. According to Miller (2000:8): “Once you develop an understanding of the current culture, and have compared that with the goals of the merged

In addition, meticulous efforts are directed at strengthening and expanding strategic alliances with third-party websites and content providers to attract users to its online stores. Marketing agreements with major Web portals and content sites, such as America Online ("AOL"), Microsoft and Lycos, have extended brand and consumer exposure to its online stores. Using the network of over 500 Barnes & Noble retail superstores and its relationship with Bertelsmann, one of the largest integrated media companies in the world, will help bn.com gain a significant advantage in cross-marketing and co-promotion programs, as well as, negotiating with online portals, distribution partners and media companies. Recently,

BMG was the first major company to settle the online website and attract many Internet users. However, it missed the golden opportunity to sell music to customers earlier. It focused on promotion at first. Still, through the collaboration with America On Line (AOL) was a unique strategy that

Before we examine market entry strategies for Brazil, it’s important to understand some basic characteristics of the country’s business environment.

In the world of business, conducting a SWOT analysis can be a useful tool when trying to assess the company's current situation as well as the surrounding marketplace ...

As an internet based company, it is a service provider and not a manufacturing company and therefore, there are not many entry modes to pursue. As the main objective to generate sales and increase brand awareness on a global scale, the company's current international strategies will be evaluated in the next section.