You must conduct research on Airbnb (ticker ABNB) in preparation for your Midterm Exam. Your goal is to develop an understanding of the company's current business strategies, challenges and the industry/ies in which it competes. Below is some information that will help get you started in your research (certainly you will need more sources to be successful in the exam):

Airbnb Website

Airbnb Investor Website: https://investors.airbnb.com/home/default.aspx

Mergent Online (ticker ABNB)

Search ABI/INFORM Collection to learn more about the industry

Industries: Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services (NAICS 518210)

A couple of recent Articles: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/technology/airbnb-hosts-pandemic-tensions.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/25/tech/airbnb-doordash-earnings-pandemic/index.html

Exam Instructions:

Respond to all parts of the essay question below using specific evidence and information to support your analysis and recommendation while staying focused and concise. Your goal in this exam is to demonstrate that you understand the course concepts and tools. To that end, your responses should make explicit use of our course concepts, tools and techniques. In addition, your essay response should use credible evidence to build your analyses and arguments. Please use appropriate within-text citations and provide a full reference list at the end of your essay.

Your response must be well written and reflect your own individual work. Within your essay, you can and should incorporate professionally formatted figures and tables to more concisely present your comprehensive analyses. Make sure your writing is organized, clear, and compelling. Use professional language and sound writing mechanics.

Please review any rubrics associated with the assignment for detailed grading criteria. The file you upload to Bb must be in .doc, .docx or .pdf format no later than October 10th at 11:59pm. Because this exam is open early in the semester for you to work on, I encourage you to complete the sections of the exam as we learn the concepts in class. Late submissions will not be accepted, no exceptions.

Essay Prompts:

1. Provide an introductory explanation of Airbnb's current business situation (including using Stakeholder analysis) to identify the organization's the most salient business challenges. Take into consideration both ethical/social and global challenges.2. Conduct a comprehensive PEST analysis to analyze the external environment for Airbnb. Take care to comprehensively gather and cite information to complete the analysis.3. Conduct a comprehensive Capability Analysis OR Strategy Map Analysis OR Growth/Share Portfolio Analysis to analyze Airbnb's competitive position. Gather and cite information to complete the analysis.4. Synthesize the most significant opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses from your analyses of the external environment (from #2) and your competitive position (from #3).5. Develop an integrated strategic recommendation for The Gap that would logically flow from your analyses. Your recommendation should:1. Be specific, innovative and interesting2. Target a business-level and/or corporate level strategy and articulate the associated benefits (e.g value creation along the value chain for business-level strategies, economies of scope and/or scale for corporate level strategies)3. Identify which mode (build, buy or partner) you think will be most beneficial to implement your recommended strategy and explain the advantages of the mode you choose4. Fully consider ethical/social and global implications.6. (Extra Credit: 10 pts) We talked about three corporate governance mechanisms. Evaluate the effectiveness ofThe Gap's governance on 2 out of the 3 governance mechanisms (Hint:MergentOnlineis an accessible resource for this information). Take care to use concepts from our course in your response.