2 What ‘soft skills’ could eBay have employed to manage the process? eBay, Inc. is a US internet company that runs eBay. com, an online auction and shopping website in which a broad variety of goods and services are bought and sold worldwide.

Since its founding in the dot-

com bubble, eBay has grown into a multi-

billion-

dollar business

(eBay, 2012). However, following the slowdown of the online auctions business as result of a weak economy, eBay laid off 10 per cent of its employees. This was eBay’s largest staff reduction since its inception. CEO John Donahoe described the process as ‘creating efficiency’ in areas that required it (Swartz, 2008).