e-Business Strategy for Adobe Systems

Integrated eBusiness Plan for Adobe Systems

Andras Bori

University of Phoenix

Integrated eBusiness Plan for Adobe Systems

Laying the Foundation - Adobe Systems

Company Overview

Adobe Systems Incorporated operates as a diversified software company, headquartered in San Jose California. Adobe offers a variety of products to Individual, SMB and Enterprise customers globally to create, manage, deliver, measure, optimize and engage with content. Adobe has three business units focused on different product offerings and markets: Digital Media, Digital Marketing and Print and Publishing.

The Digital Media Business Unit provides tools that enable creative individuals to create, publish and promote their content. The Digital Media Business Unit has switched its business model from a perpetual to a subscription-based license model. According to Marketline (2017), The flagship product of the company's Digital Media business is Adobe Creative Cloud, which is a subscription service that allows members to download and install the latest versions of Adobe products such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe InDesign. The Digital Media Business unit also has a document cloud division, which offers electronic document management.

Adobe’s Digital Marketing Segments provides tools for advertising and marketing to customers online. The wide variety of products enable companies to create, manage, execute, measure and optimize advertising and marketing campaigns. Digital Marketing also started to shift their business model to a subscription-based business. According to Marketline (2017), the essential products offered includes Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, Adobe Social, Adobe Media Optimizer, Adobe Experience Manager and Adobe Campaign, Adobe Audience Manager and Adobe Primetime.

Adobe’s Print and Publishing business unit is the smallest in revenue of the three it targets customers who are doing digital publishing or high-end printing. According to Marketline (2017), the essential products offered include Adobe PostScript and PDF technologies.

The company competes globally in all major international markets including the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific region. Most of the companies revenue come from the US followed by EMEA.

Short-term and long-range goals

Adobe continues to shift its business model to subscription-based licensing. The company has been growing about 20-25% year over year for the past three years. The current goal is to continue to grow revenues at 20% and reach $11 Billion annual revenues in the next five years. Adobe’s slogan is to “Make It an Experience. Only Adobe gives everyone — from emerging artists to global brands — everything they need to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences” (Adobe Systems, 2017). Adobe will look to acquire companies to round out its portfolio of digital products and will continue to invest in artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality and virtual reality.

Recommendations

To continue to grow Adobe’s revenue the company needs to ensure that they keep increasing revenue by bringing in new customers by adding more products, entering into new markets and increasing the value to existing customers. The company also needs to ensure that they keep investing to keep the retention of existing customers to a minimum by increasing customer engagement. Adobe has a tremendous opportunity in China, however, entering the China market continues to be a risky and challenging proposition. Adobe also needs to ensure that it keeps its leadership position in their current markets by investing in disrupting their product offering. Keeping competition out of the market and not letting other players gain market share will continue to be an essential focus as the company expands. Adobe has a fantastic people-oriented culture that fosters creativity and innovation. Ensuring that employee engagement remains to be in the center of attention to the firm as retaining talent is a crucial area for future success for the company.

Ethical Leadership and Culture

Model Review

Ethical leadership has become an essential component of a corporation’s long-term success. According to Thomas (2008) the case studies reviewed suggest that high ethical leadership and strong moral culture lead to successful business. Thomas (2008) also concluded that high ethical standards in leadership have a healthy relationship to overall organizational morale.

Schaubroeck et al. (2012) investigated the link between ethical leadership within and across the unit and organizational levels as well in the Army. They analyzed the impact of moral leadership at various levels. The study found limited support for trickledown effect from ethical behavior from leadership at multiple levels. The study found broader support that leaders should think about influencing culture in a multi-model way where the mechanisms to establish and maintain an ethical culture are set up in a way that spreads not only in one level but cascades down multiple levels.

Leaders can develop a strong ethical culture via primary and secondary mechanisms. Primary mechanisms include what leaders pay attention to, measure and control. Primary devices have the most substantial impact on influencing follower’s beliefs, values and establishing a culture. Secondary mechanisms are less impactful and include organizational structure, storytelling and workflow design for example.

Shaubreock at al. (2012) has tested three distinct categories how moral influence transferred down and across the organization. First, they identified how ethical leaders focus on their unit to establish their expectations. Second, they investigated how ethical leadership and expectations cascade across organizational levels and third, how leaders with high ethical leadership can influence the impact their subordinates can make on their followers. Because of this observation when developing a framework for moral behaviors all of these avenues to create and maintain an ethical culture need to be considered.

Factors in the model that needs to be modified for a for-profit use

For-profit corporations have responsibilities often to shareholders, customers and a board of directors. Employees can leave at will from for-profit companies, so companies must consider employee engagement as a critical factor.

At companies like Adobe Systems with about fifteen thousand employees, we have six organizational levels from a reporting hierarchy perspective, and the employees are spread out globally across many time zones. So as far as establishing a training program and framework for-profit corporations often have to ensure that there are check and balances all the way down the hierarchy and that the enforcement of the ethical code of conduct is consistent. One of the main difference is that the company is spread out all over the globe and it has to consider cultural differences when establishing a code of conduct.

As a for-profit corporation, the company faces constant scrutiny from its investors and often rewards Sr. Leaders based on the performance of the company’s stock price. As such, leaders face tremendous amount of pressure to do everything in their power to make deals and take actions that will help the stock price increase. The board of directors has to put checks and balances in place to ensure that leaders cannot cover specific events in hopes to improve the financial performance in the short term. The government also regulates the market and gives out heavy penalties for illegal activities that companies need to consider.

Ethical issues organizations face meeting long-term goals

Especially publicly traded companies, face a tremendous amount of pressure to meet Wall Street expectations on a quarterly basis. That pressure often forces businesses to trade long-term needs for short-term gains. To achieve these short-term needs companies like Enron in the past resorted to unethical activities. So, ensuring that businesses do the right things even in the face of adversity is a crucial component of long-term success.

Modified model for the large for-profit corporations to achieve a shared ethical culture created

A model for creating an ethical culture for a for-profit organization would include both primary and secondary tools to develop a shared understanding of the culture and training frequent and recurring mandatory training opportunities to ensure that everyone in the organization knows the expectations. The model would include creating a code of business conduct framework with core values for the company, workplace expectations, individual conduct, business relationships, community, compliance with the Law, as well as the consequences of violations.

First, I would recommend creating the code of conduct than implementing a training program that would ensure that everyone in the organization is at least aware of the expectations from the business. According to Yang (2013), high ethical standards in a group lead to happy workers, inside and outside the working environment.

One other element that would be part of the framework is storytelling. According to Driscoll and McKee (2007), storytelling can help an organization to elevate the culture to feel connected to a broader community and give the organization a higher purpose. Including, opportunities like all-hands meeting where leaders can share the vision, strategy, and mission of the company with a regular frequency would be part of the model as well.

One last component I would emphasize in the model is the social responsibility. I would provide an opportunity for employees at all level to participate in activities where they can give back to the community. Companies leading with an example in being responsible not just to the community but for the environment could move the world to a more ethical and accountable culture.

Strategic Market Analysis for Adobe System

International Opportunity

Adobe Systems offers its product in virtually every country according to Adobe’s published product availability Matrix. Adobe sells products either directly via Adobe.com or resellers like Digital River. The primary markets where Adobe competes include North America, EMEA, and the Asia Pacific. The majority of Adobe’s revenues comes from North America. Adobe has an opportunity to increase its revenues significantly in China, Germany, and Japan. Adobe only recently entered China with its Creative Cloud offering and the company has a chance to grow the user base significantly.

Current Economic and Market Conditions

According to Vigrass (2017), the global economy broadly is on an upswing in Europe, Americas, Asia and Emerging markets at the same time. The Fed has been raising interest rates the first time in a while, Japan’s economy is growing the fastest rate in three years, the Euro has been getting stronger since 2015, and the European Commission Economic Index is at its highest level since 2011.

Trends in Markets

According to Fidelity (2018), Adobe continues to grow its revenues and earnings per share. Earnings per share increased 46% year over year. Adobe (2017) identified four significant market trends: the need to look beyond mobility, focusing on creating native cloud apps, intelligence everywhere, and an open ecosystem. The Creative Cloud and Document continue to innovate to keep attracting new customers and to keep the competition at bay. The Digital Media opportunity has three core pillars growing the core customer base, attracting new customers via market expansion, and innovating to add more value to create value expansion. The total addressable market for the core business is made up of incremental opportunity, migrating the CS3-CS5 install base, and the existing install base. The market expansion focuses on Photographers by going after hobbyist, and consumers by adding new mobile and web-based solutions. Value expansion opportunity includes stock, creative services, and sign. Adobe estimates the creative cloud total addressable market is $19.5 billion and the Document Cloud estimate is at $4.5 billion. Adobe’s digital marketing business unit forecast the entire addressable market at $40 billion across its personalization, content, data, analytics, and advertising clouds.

Changes in Customer Preferences

Adobe identified three core changes in customer preferences they need to take into account. The first one is state of the art of content, people create more content using more digital medium than ever, and having a great experience doing it is increasingly more critical. Second, industries becoming increasingly more data-driven and digital and third is the need for using artificial intelligence to enhance customer experience and continue to automate as many steps as possible.

Current and Anticipated Competition

According to Marketline (2017) the market for Adobe’s products are characterized with intense competition, disruptive technology and changing industry standards. The main competitors for digital media include: Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Corel, Microsoft, Quark, Getty Images, Shutterstock, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest, Google, Yahoo!. Digital Publishing faces competition from Amazon, Apple and Google. Digital Marketing business unit competes with companies like Google, IBM, Oracle, Salesforce.com, SAP, SAS, Teradata and others.

eBusiness Model for Adobe Systems

Customer Segments

Adobe Systems offers a subscription service that targets customers in three different markets segments. Adobe targets Individuals, teams or small-medium size businesses and enterprises. Adobe customizes the subscription packages to the needs of the various segments. Customers primarily use Adobe’s services in the digital media and digital marketing space. Adobe previously, sold to customers using a perpetual license model, where customers had to pay a one time fee to use the software as long as it worked. Adobe had to innovate to attract customers to buy a new updated version of the software.

Research Findings

According to Horng (2012), the subscription-based business model provides a predictable revenue stream. In Adobe’s case, Wall-Street has undoubtedly valued the predictable growth, and revenue stream as the company’s stock price just soared above $200 per share recently. Willow (2009) investigates the risks of charging a flat fee for ISP providers independent of usage. In Adobe’s case that has not been a challenge until recently as the cost of the service did not substantially increase by usage. Recently, Adobe started to venture into enabling customers to store up to 1TB of content included in the subscription price. Adobe will have to observe, how that impacts the cost structure and tailor their pricing accordingly.

Wang, Ye, Zhang, and Nguyen (2005) and Chyi (2005) investigated the various factors that would keep customers interested in paying a recurring fee for services. Some of the critical elements identified include convenience, essentiality, added value, perceived service quality, usage frequency, perceived fairness and security concerns. Adobe has done a great job meeting most of these needs and creating plans tailored to customers where a lot of these criteria are met.

Punj (2013) researched what type of customers are more willing to pay for subscription services. After taking a sample of 755 internet users, he concluded that the amount people spent was dependent on income and education, whereas willingness to pay was more related to gender and age. In Adobe’s case due to the full range of services, they can target a broad customer base. Most recently, for example, Adobe started to target hobbyist users in addition to creative pros in their Creative Cloud offering.

Financial Performance

In 2012, Adobe introduced its subscription service and started to migrate customers to its new business model. In 2012 Adobe’s stock price was at around $25 per share over the past five years the stock price started on a steady climb and just recently hit $200 per share. According to Fidelity.com (2018), return on investment was at 16.65% compared to the industry average 9.61%. Adobe tracks Net Annual Recurring Revenue as a key metric, which is calculated by taking the current subscriber base plus any new subscribers minus cancellation. Since the subscription model, the annual revenue forecast became extremely predictable, and Adobe has been able to grow its earnings per share continuously since 2012 and able to meet or exceed its projections to Wall Street every quarter. This unprecedented run shows the viability of the business model and the future potential for Adobe to continue to be an Industry leader.

Internet Technology

Internet Technologies appropriate for E-Business

According to Pfisterer, Radonjic-Simic, and Reichwald (2016), the Internet enables a new level of connectedness of businesses with the Internet of Things. With the use of technology companies now can solve complex customers problems. To do that business have to be set up in a way that they can expose their services to a central system that can listen to customer needs and tailor the best most competitive offering to users.

Adobe System sells software products in a subscription business model. Adobe’s business model requires an online e-commerce platform where customers can subscribe to Adobe’s products and manage their accounts. Adobe also delivers its products electronically, and the products talk back to Adobe’s cloud backend for various services. Creating a great and seamless user experience in these transactions, and exposing the capabilities of any device, operating system, and the surface is a must-have for Adobe. Many companies store proprietary content on Adobe’s cloud platform, and they expect data security.

Use of IT to provide knowledge transfer between different locations

According to Demetrios, Wildman, and Mane (2016) for an employee of large corporations, it is essential to be able to communicate with employees in other time zones and geographical locations. Advancements in video conferencing technologies and cloud-based document sharing platforms have made this collaboration much more straightforward.

Google, for example, makes a complete online collaboration suite available with google docs for document sharing, google hangouts for video conferencing and Google calendars for meeting management. Adobe System uses a combination of Adobe Connect for screen sharing, InterCall for phone conferencing and Cisco’s teleconferencing product for Video. My favorite product is GoToMeeting, which is an easy to use video conferencing tool that makes online collaboration easy. Adobe also uses wiki pages and SharePoint for online collaboration. One of the challenges is that many teams use different tools making cooperation harder than it needs to be. I would standardize on the suite of tools as much as possible to make information sharing across groups easier.

Collaboration between geographically remote team members

Besides, the communication challenge with remote teams, staying on the same page with progress tracking and reporting on various projects is another challenge companies have to solve. A large number of companies have developed products in the work collaboration and project tracking space trying to address this challenge. According to Rusu and Rusu (2010) research has proved that modern project management can help an organization to run more efficiently and effectively.

Many companies face the challenge of either building their work tracking tool or buying one from a third party vendor. In the buying decision, another critical factor is if the tool should be a hosted software as a service offering or an on permit model that needs to be maintained. At Adobe System there is a broad range of tools used for project tracking, making it extremely hard to see the work across the Enterprise. I would like to standardize on the project tracking tool and would use a SAAS offering to eliminate the need for maintenance.

Selecting the tool requires that the process for work management first is well defined. The work process should take into account a large number of different personas interacting with the tool from stakeholders to projects managers. One of the most critical components is how well the tool facilitates asynchronous collaboration.

Meeting customer needs

According to Maguire and Koh (2007), large companies use multiple ways to listen to their customers. In an eBusiness, providing customers an opportunity to give feedback on their experience is a mandatory component. Developing a CRM system that enables customer support and sales team to track and understand the customer needs so they can promptly address any needs is a crucial success factor. Thinking about the CRM system holistically and ensuring that during mergers and acquisitions customer data gets merged into one system can provide a holistic view of the customer for valuable data analytics.

I would propose that companies continuously stay engaged with their user bases in beta programs, social media, user experience research and keep learning about their customer's needs and pain points. Implementing a customer experience focused culture that is fueled by a robust technology foundation can mean the difference between building the right thing to meet customers needs or not.

Cyber security for operations and customer data

According to Defelice (2016), securing the Internet of Things is one of the most challenging challenge companies face. As companies are empowering their employees via various bring your device initiatives, the technology level has dramatically increased, but the security level may have decreased. Businesses need to invest in technologies that separate personal files from work files and also separates work applications from personal ones. Securing the companies network and enabling two-factor authentication for any technology is a must-have. Also, a company has to understand what data is sensitive and cannot be stored in servers that could be accessible from the Internet and create separated security zones.

Last but not least companies need to implement a training program for employees. The security training program should educate employees on various security risks such as phishing attempts, malware, etc. The plan should also outline what employees need to do if their systems were compromised. For more prominent corporations usually, a security group would be established who would focus on ensuring proper practices and secure operations.

Management Strategies for eBusiness

Adobe System has an already strong and growing eBusiness present and is a leader in providing digital experiences to customers in a variety of markets. Adobe sells its products through direct and indirect channels. Their direct channel is adobe.com and the sales forces selling to enterprise customers. Indirect channels include affinity partners who sell Adobe products to customers or in International Markets where Adobe does not yet have an excellent solution to transact in local currency process the transaction between the customer and Adobe. I will be reviewing Adobe’s financial management practices, current marketing plan, human resource management plan, organizational chart and the effectiveness of strategies to resolve ethical issues.

Financial Management Strategy

Adobe Systems is a publicly traded company so as such due to financial regulations, on a quarterly basis Adobe has to report its financial performances and goals for the future quarters and years. Any publicly traded company including Adobe is highly evaluated by investors and analyst to see if the company is a good investment and what type of potential the stock price provides for investors. As a result of that Adobe, always have to look for ways to grow their revenues and profit margins, so the stock price continues to move up. According to Saviage and Berthiaume (2017), Adobe is forecasting $8.725 billion in revenues in the fiscal year 2018. The Digital Media segment will have to grow 23% year over year, the Adobe Experience Cloud subscription revenue will have to grow at 20%, and the Adobe Experience Cloud Total Revenue will have to increase by 15% year over year.

Adobe will benefit from the tax reforms domestically, however, will have to balance out the increase in taxes on foreign investments. Adobe’s fiscal year starts in December, so in 2018 financial statement there will be only a partial benefit. Currently, Adobe has about $5.8 billion in cash, so there is reasonable likelihood that Adobe would purchase some number of companies to round out its portfolio and accelerate growth in specific areas.

Marketing Plan

According to Magnusson (2011), a marketing plan has three components the strategy level, process level and system level. The strategy level includes the value proposition, target customers, competitive strategy, the revenue model and cost strategy.

Adobe continues to focus on providing digital experiences to a broad customer base, selling its product in a subscription business model. Adobe’s costs primarily come from the compensation of its workforce and the facilities Adobe maintains. The cost associated with providing the products is relatively small. The target customer comprised of creative professionals using creative tools to get their work done, to companies that have to manage their marketing campaigns using digital technology. Recently Adobe started to expand their offering to hobbyist users. Adobe’s competitive strategy stems from out-innovating the competition in these areas and offering an affordable subscription service to different customer segments based on the customer's needs. Adobe customizes its plans by bundling different products together into specific offerings based on what the customer is trying to accomplish.

Adobe System distributes its products primarily through Adobe.com and its sales team. Adobe is constantly working toward optimizing its sales channels and making it easier for customers to select the right products and plans for their needs. Adobe also spends a considerable amount of investment to improve customer retention. Due to the experienced efficiencies and challenges Adobe is revamping its eCommerce engine and working toward bringing business back from third-party distributors and funneling it through Adobe.com.

Adobe has opted to develop it's on eCommerce platform vs. buying it from a third-party provider. Adobe.com is responsible for about 70% of Adobe’s revenue, and the company continues to invest into making the platform more expandable easy to use by customers and powered by Adobes sensei technology to be able to provide a more personalized experience. According to Meredith (2016), companies should have multiple marketing plans. Adobe takes that concept to another level, where it not only tries to market differently to the categories recommended by Meredith (2016) but also works to tailor the marketing message to the individual customers.

Human Resources Management Plan

To achieve its financial targets and execute its marketing plan Adobe invests a considerable amount into building a highly qualified and competitive workforce. According to Dave (2000), Human Resources organization needs to focus on staffing, training and development, rewards, communication, governance, leadership and sustainable employee commitment to stay competitive in this new web-based economy.

Adobe System’s success is dependent on the quality of talent it can attract to be able to stay ahead of the competition. Adobes headquarter is in San Jose, CA, which is in the Silicon Valley. Every top software company has a presence here, competing for talent and offering various benefits to attract employees.

Adobe continually evaluates the job market to ensure that salaries paid to employees continue to be competitive. The overall benefits packages continue to be the focal point for HR. Another important topic is to continue to drive gender equality, diversity and inclusion. Adobe also recently revamped its check-in process to get away from once a year performance evaluation meetings.

Personal development also is a core HR function enabling anyone to further their education by providing a wide variety of training opportunities and tuition reimbursement programs for people interested in getting a college degree.

Organizational Charts

Adobe Sytems organizes its people in a matrix organizational structure. Shantanu Narayen is the CEO of the company, and he has ten direct reports on his staff. The functions reporting to Shantanu include marketing, customer and employee experience, finance, legal, sales, and product. Adobe divides its products into three business segments Digital Media and Digital Marketing plus a platform technologies organization supporting both business units.

Within the Digital Media business unit leadership is divided into Go To Market functions and products between two leaders. Adobe has a product-focused organizational structure where for the most part engineering, product management, program management and quality engineering resources report directly to product leaders. Adobe aligned shared components like HR, marketing, finance, go to market, sales with product strategy for execution using a matrixed operational model.

Effectiveness of Strategies to Resolve Ethical Issues

According to Werhane (2017), one of the challenges for companies when developing ethics guidelines is to take a global perspective when setting and enforcing standards. Adobe being a publicly traded company the scrutiny and the implications of low ethical standards would be devastating to the business. According to Pless and Maak (2004), businesses need to build a framework of inclusion based on principles of recognition, trust, mutual enabling and inclusion.

Adobe Systems focused on creating a highly diverse workforce, where the difference is not only accepted but valued and encouraged at the same time. The inclusive nature of Adobe and the focus on employee experience has resulted in high employee engagement and Adobe frequently being selected as one of the best places to work. Adobe has created mandatory training programs in some areas like harassment, bribery, fraud, etc. to educate employees on ethical standards and expectations and to create a culture of high ethical standards.

Analysis of Geopolitical Forces

Adobe System competes in a globally in various markets, and geopolitical forces can impact the company’s performance in some ways with the most significant impact in North America, EMEA, and Japan. According to Markowitz and Fariss (2017), countries build power projection capabilities to protect their economic interests. Understanding the political agenda for nations that Adobe is selling its products and how changes in political direction can influence how policymakers regulate market conditions is an essential factor in ensuring a smooth and continued operation in a country.

According to Callinicos (2017), BREXIT and Trump's election in recent history has a significant impact on geopolitical climate. BREXIT signals a shift from building a unified market in Europe where movement of labor and products have been significantly made easier. With Britain exiting the European Union it has several implications on trade agreements and the overall strength of Europe. Some financial centers like Frankfurt and Paris would benefit from the shift of business away from London, so the stance to keep Great Brittan in the European Union is not unified. Trump's election also signals a change away from the involvement of the US in International Affairs from a less Europe oriented to building better relationships with Russia and balancing the trade deficit with China. These shifts in International politics will also change the market conditions, and countries might change the way they let International companies operate within their boundaries.

According to Copley (2017), the global strategic architecture is changing and due to shifting needs of countries and the resources available in various parts of the globe to meet those needs. Russia benefited from the fall of the Soviet Union and was able to re-emerge as a global power. China has been growing at an exceeding level, but due to its water shortage, it will be heavily dependent on food and water import in the coming year unless there is a breakthrough in technology to produce clean water. A shift is occurring in how countries need to think about their power projections. Although nuclear weapons are still devastating, biological weapons and cyber-terrorism cause more significant damage. As nations become increasingly more aware of the power of digital information, they will become more concerned about International corporations gaining access to their countries digital resources. That shift in thinking will have a significant impact on Adobe System's ability to reach the consumers. In China that is already an issue, as the Chinese government heavily regulates what Adobe can store from its Chinese users and the movement of information outside of China.

Cultural References

According to Riles (2008) people in any country have a different perception of their cultural values and disagree on what values are acceptable and what values are not fair. In the US following the recent elections, that divide becomes more intensified. The Republican party has changed taxation laws, which will also help Adobe Systems to achieve its strategic goals as Adobe will have to pay fewer taxes. The other change in process is the ability for companies to hire international employees will be more difficult. As a large percentage of Adobe's workforce seems to be talented individuals who have proven their skills in their selected field have been recruited from other countries, that change may make it more difficult to retain such talent.

According to Callens and Mauleman (2017), integration policies for various groups have an impact on cultural threat perceptions. As the core population in countries decreasing and that gives way to allow much broader immigration more cultural values and differences mix together than ever. Cultural differences impact countries to various degrees. Adobe System has to consider the changing landscape in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Intervention Strategies

Some of the strategies available to Adobe is to continually monitor the impact of these cultural and geopolitical changes on the market conditions and ensure that the company creates a proactive mitigation strategy to respond to specific risks. Also, Adobe has had an extraordinarily diverse and global workforce with a broad range of cultural values. The company has to be sensitive to how these geopolitical changes impact their employee's morale and engagement. When specific groups get affected, the company have to support affected groups with a comprehensive strategy to show that it cares about their employee's values and interests.

Conclusion and recommendations for Adobe Systems

Adobe System competes in the software segments as a publicly traded company. Over the past five years, Adobe transitioned from a perpetual to a subscription business model delivering its software online instead of in stores. That transformation helped to continually increase revenues and make Adobe a role model of a subscription-based company.

Adobe places emphasis on maintaining an ethical culture, caring for their employees and enabling employees to contribute and give back to their communities. Adobe fosters a socially responsible culture, where through various programs leaders lead by example in giving back to the community. Adobe has to continue to maintain a high employee engagement to be able to stay competitive and attract the best talent.

Adobe faces fierce competition and is under constant attack in the markets it is selling its products. The Digitial market space continues to grow, and new technologies and innovations open up opportunities and make products obsolete. Adobe has to continue to innovate the competition out and disrupt itself by introducing new products based on technological advances to keep the competitors at bay.

Adobe focuses on Individual, SMB and Enterprise customers and tailors its product plans and offerings to the needs of various customer segments. Adobe needs to continue to make it easier for customers to purchase and pay for the right plan. The subscription model now is becoming more accepted by the customers, and the core base continues to grow as Adobe attracts new users. Besides continuing to add new users, Adobe also needs to focus on the core user base and drive a high retention rate.

Adobe continues to bring its selling model back in-house by building a flexible e-commerce system. That trend has helped the company to remove processing fees charged by affinity partners selling Adobe's products. Adobe needs to continue to evaluate how that model can be expanded globally and if that continues to be a cost-effective solution. Adobe continues to operate with a global workforce and making the interaction frictionless and easy to facilitate a productive working environment needs to stay as a core focus area. Cybersecurity with all the online transactions and personally identifiable information stored by Adobe plays a crucial role in ensuring customer confidence in Adobe. Every company faces cybersecurity threats and having a robust strategy in Adobe's business is a must-have.

Overall, Adobe shows industry-leading best practices in financial management, marketing, human resources management, organizational structure, and maintaining an ethical culture. Adobe has to continue to excel in these areas to increase its stock's valuation by investors and to continue to drive lucrative returns to its shareholders. To meet these expectations Adobe has to focus on taking care of employees, delivering new and innovative technology to meet customer needs and to stay financially sound driving higher returns to shareholders.

References

Adobe System. (06/2017). Adobe Investor Presentation. Retrieved from http://https://wwwimages2.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/investor-relations/pdfs/ADBE_Investor_Presentation_Jun_2017.pdf

Adobe Systems. (2017). About Adobe. Retrieved from http://http://www.adobe.com/about-adobe.html

Callens, M., & Mauleman, B. (2017). Do integration policies relate to economic and cultural threat perceptions? A comparative study in Europe. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 58(5), 367-391.

Callinicos, A. (2017). Britain and Europe on the geopolitical roller-coaster. Competition & Change, 21(3), 185-189.

Creative Cloud Availability Matrix. (2018). Retrieved from http://http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/products/creativecloud/cc/pdfs/cc-availability-matrix.pdf

Chyi, H. I. (2005). Willingness to Pay for Online News: An Empirical Study on the Viability of the Subscription Model. Journal of Media Economics, 18(2), 131-142.

Copley, G. R. (2017). Moving the Global Geopolitical Center of Gravity. Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, 4-9.

Dave, U. (2000). From eBusiness to eHR. Human Resource Planning, 23(2), 12.

Defelice, T. (2016). Securing the Internet of Things. New Hampshire Business Review, 11(24), 27.

Driscoll, C., & McKee, M. (2007). Restorying a Culture of Ethical and Spiritual Values: A Role for Leader Storytelling. Journal of Business Ethics, 73(10), 205-217.

Fidelity. (01/07/2018). Company Research Highlights. Retrieved from http://research2.fidelity.com/fidelity/html_fragments/eresearch/11.05/bl/companyResearchHighlights.asp?symbols=ADBE

Horng, S. (08/2012). A study of the factors influencing users’ decisions to pay for Web 2.0 subscription services. Total Quality Management, 23(8), 891-912.

Karis, D., Wildman, D., & Mane, A. (2016). Improving Remote Collaboration With Video Conferencing and Video Portals. HUMAN–COMPUTER INTERACTION, 31, 1-58. doi:0.1080/07370024.2014.921506

King, N., & Sullivan, K. (11/2012). Corporate Philantrophy Report. Wileay Periodicals, 27(11), 5-7.

Lett, M., & Punj, G. (2015). The relationship between consumer characteristics and willingness to pay for general online content: Implications for content providers considering subscription-based business models. Springer Science + Business Media. doi:10.1007/s11002-013-9273-y

Magnusson, M. (2011). eBusiness Model Design and Evaluation: The Pieces Make the Puzzle. Academic Conferences International Limited, 303(12), 303-311.

Maguire, S., Koh, S. C., & Huang, C. (2007). Industrial Management & Data Systems. Emerald Group Publishing, 107(4), 567-586. Retrieved from http://

Marketline. (07/14/2017). Company Profile Adobe System Incorporated. Retrieved from http://www.marketline.com

Marketline. (09/26/2016). Company Porfile Adobe System Incorporated. Retrieved from http://www.marketline.com

Markowitz, J. N., & Fariss, C. J. (2017). Power, proximity, and democracy: Geopolitical competition in the international system. Journal of Peace Research, 55(1), 78-93.

Meredith, L. (2016). Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. Multiple marketing plans: an analytical template, 31(4), 519-530.

Pfisterer, D., Radonjic-Simic, M., & Reichwald, J. (2016). Business Model Design and Architecture for the Internet of Everything. Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks, 5(7). doi:10.3390

Pless, N. M., & Maak, T. (2004). Building an Inclusive Diversity Culture: Principles, Processes and Practice. Journal of Business Ethics, 54(2), 129-147.

Pouliquen-Lardy, L., Milleville-Pennel, I., Guillaume, F., & Mars, F. (2016). Remote collaboration in virtual reality: asymmetrical effects of task distribution on spatial processing and mental workload. Virtual Reality, 20(1), 213-220.

Riles, A. (2008). Cultural Conflicts. Law and Contemporary Problems, 71(273), 273-308.

Rusu, L., & Rusu, V. (2010). Online Project Management for Dynamic e-Collaboration. Informatica Economică, 14(1), 182-190.

Saviage, M., & Berthiaume, D. (01/22/2018). Adobe Updates Q1 and Fiscal Year 2018 Financial Targets. Retrieved from http://https://wwwimages2.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/investor-relations/pdfs/012218AdobeUpdatesQ1FY18Targets.pdf

Schaubroeck, J. M., Hannah, S. T., Avolio, B. J., Kozlowski, S. W., Lord, R. G., Trevino, L. K., Dimotakis, N., & Peng, A. C. (2012). Embedding Ethical Leadership Within And Across Organization Levels. Academy of Management Journal, 55(5), 1053-1078.

Thomas, J. C. (2008). Ethical Integrity in Leadership and. SAGE Publications, 4(4), 419-442.

Toor, S., & Ofori, G. (2009). Ethical Leadership: Examining the Relationships with Full Range Leadership Model, Employee Outcomes, and Organizational Culture. Journal of Business Ethics, 90(4), 533-547.

Yang, C. (09/08/2013). Does Ethical Leadership Lead to Happy Workers? A Study. Business Ethics, 123(10), 513-525.

Vigrass, L. (03/18/2017). The global economy enjoys a synchronised upswing. The Economist. Retrieved from http://https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21718868-past-decade-has-been-marked-series-false-economic-dawns-time-really-does-feel?zid=295&ah=0bca374e65f2354d553956ea65f756e0

Wang, C. L., Zhang, Y., Ye, L. R., & Nguyen, D. (2005). SUBSCRIPTION TO FEE-BASED ONLINE SERVICES: WHAT MAKES CONSUMER PAY FOR ONLINE CONTENT? Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 6(4), 304-311.

Willow, C. C. (2009). Next-Generation Strategic Business Model for the U.S. Internet Service Providers: Rate-Based Internet Subscription. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Telecommunications and Networking, 1(3), 32-41.

Werhane, P. H. (2017). Principles and Practices for Corporate Responsibility. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20(4), 695-701.