Methodology:The research topic, quality management and control over peer-to-peerbased companies in relation to the customer, relied on the use of academicreadings, newspaper articles, and research studies to formulate evidence toback statements made by the writer. These were accessed through the use ofonline databases, websites, and the use of the class textbook, which were thenin turn placed in the paper using the APA format of citation. These citationswere used to find the research, however, the analysis of these findings andapplication to the topic was formulated by myself and does not requirecitations. All research, either used or unused, will be included in areferences section to properly give credit to the works used to help formulatethis research paper. The research can be found under a references section,which will be included at the conclusion of the writing.Abstract:This research paper will focus on the analysis of how different factors influence the quality of Uber and eBay. These companies were chosen because they were both pioneers and industry leaders in their markets that rely on managing a transaction between two individuals or users as opposed to selling to a consumer. Some factors that will be analyzed are costs considered, customer satisfaction, customer retention, investing and managing quality, supply networks, user security and risk, problems during the growth stage, and the solutions they have come up with to become and maintain profitable companies with large user bases. These platforms will be analyzed based on their ability to meet the user’s expectations.Introduction:Advances in technology have long been revolutionary for companieswhen trying to reach their potential consumers. At the turn of the 20thcentury, the advent of the radio allowed for advertising to be broadcast acrosslong distances for the first time. Several years later, the television wascreated and widely sold, which expanded the reach of corporations into thepopular nighttime shows that saw a high volume of viewers. However, notechnology has had a greater impact than the invention and expansion of theInternet. This tool connects someone with anybody across the globe with justone click of a button. The speed and reach at the disposal of corporations isendless, which is why many companies began to make their own onlinemarketplaces, known today as E-Commerce. Companies in the 1990s began toexperiment with E-Commerce by managing online transactions between twoconsumers, that has come to be known as the peer-to-peer transaction system.This system has seen a rapid growth over the past decade due to the increase inonline shoppers, in addition to a growth in conspicuous consumption or payingfor goods and services frequently. These systems in recent years have beenadapted to support the increase in mobile technology that was pioneered due tothe innovations by companies such as Apple and Samsung. As the number of onlineand mobile users grows each year, it has become apparent for companies likeUber and eBay to invest time, money, and manpower to the building of theirsoftware systems. The difficulty of managing the quality of the buyer andseller experience has been a key obstacle for industry leaders in E-Commerce,such as Uber and eBay.Analysis:The basics of a p2p system revolve around the interaction between abuyer, seller, and a holding company. Conventional companies follow either abusiness-to-business or a business-to-consumer model, which makes the model ofmanaging peer-to-peer online transactions a new and unique concept. Forexample, eBay serves as an intermediary during these transactions by providinga platform to buy and sell. These transactions are monitored using varioustools on the site, and the control over the sale, advertising, and delivery isalmost entirely dependent on the buyer and seller. Similarly, Uber provides thetechnology to connect a driver to a potential customer without directly beinginvolved with the process. This means that an Uber driver must deliver aconsistent quality of service for the riders that can be monitored by softwarecreated by Uber. Both of these companies charge fees for allowing somebody touse the software, in addition to also providing financial security for everytransaction. Therefore, the business model for these companies is simple;manage these transactions and charge fees for both parties who choose to usethe software.This system allows for these companies to overlook many costs thattraditional companies have to deal with. Many of the costs incurred by thesecompanies, similar to many of the tech giants, have occurred during thestart-up and early phases, such as building a platform and entering amarket.  For example, in an articlewritten by Maya Kosoff for Business Insider, Uber, a multi-billion dollarcompany, had “issues paying off investors going into 2014” which, in astatement by Uber, they “credited this loss for the need to invest and grow”(1).Amazon had a similar problem where they went almost a decade until theyincurred a profit. This is due to the need of significant investment to boostand improve quality, build a platform for the transactions to occur on a largescale, and build brand recognition to improve customer retention and trust.Moreover, in order to do this, many tech companies must sign loans or give outequity in the company that is unfavorable but necessary for them to build. Thisputs them at a disadvantage to more traditional product-based companies becausethey cannot make a single dollar until their product is well made and ready tobe scaled quickly since the tech market is filled with booms and busts. Companiesin the growth period need to invest to build, but tech companies in particularhave to take much greater risks in order to penetrate their competitiveindustries. Penetrating the tech market relies heavily on the ability to meetthe needs of the customer. Customer satisfaction ratings are a key metric forany company when measuring your reach. Refer to the line graph below:Illustrated by the graph on the previous page, one can see thatE-Commerce companies are not only growing in size, but also in quality. Thisdata is measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which usesresources such as surveys and company records in order to establish the ratingsfor each year. The values shown are averages amongst the top companies for eachindustry since the beginning of the century. Since 2000, there hasn’t been ayear that customer satisfaction ratings for retail companies surpassed that ofE-Commerce companies. This means that expectations for these companies arefavorable, but there is an issue with having consistently high customersatisfaction. Meeting these expectations and maintaining them year in and yearout is a great challenge for companies such as EBay and Uber going forward.Uber and eBay face a unique challenge when managing customer expectations. Most companies have to focus on the design and marketability of their products because they deal directly with their customer base. However, Uber and EBay do not have direct contact with the customer, and they have to deal with the person selling a good or service on their platform. They use the concept of allowing people to operate similar to sales agents, but leave the authority of conducting a transaction almost entirely to the individual. This brings up an interesting problem: How do you manage a system where every transaction between buyer and seller is unique and performed independently of your company? These companies have championed the use of business analytics and scientific management because of their need to meet the customer’s expectations. It is hard to find a metric for satisfaction when people purchase everything from baseball cards to Lamborghinis on eBay or spending several dollars on an Uber ride around the corner to several hundred dollars going from one city to another. A clever solution to this problem, used by both Uber and EBay, can be found using one tactic: letting buyers and sellers manage the quality themselves.The rating system used by these companies’ gives them the ability to monitor and police the users of these platforms. For example, Uber has a strict rating system for drivers. They require that you, according to James Cook’s Business Insider article, “maintain an average rating of around 4.6 out of 5 stars” or else the driver is in threat of losing their right to use the app. Similarly, eBay uses a “rating system that allows users to praise, complain, or have no comment on their purchase” (Cook 1). Both of these systems are designed in order to make sure that the buyer has their expectations met by the seller. These include time till good or service is received, communication with the seller, and ensuring the quality expectation is met with every transaction or ride. Therefore, not only is the holding company collecting a fee for doing little to no work on a transaction, but also they are even having their users self-regulate and improve the quality of their systems.The ratings even serve to help make sure the seller has their expectations met as well. Uber uses a similar rating system that they use for their drivers: did they meet their expectation as a rider, did they communicate well, and were there any complications that prohibited the driver from accepting more rides after that one was performed. It is no secret that the driver is under greater threat of losing privileges, but Uber will prevent a customer from using their system if it is warranted. The reason why they and EBay can block users is simple; both have such a high volume of users and annual traffic that it has little to no effect on their revenue.  It seems extreme to ban a customer from being allowed to utilize their software, but peer-to-peer companies rely heavily on their quality. The ability for these companies to control who can use their software is dependent on the amount of traffic their systems see. For example, eBay has “around 170 million active users”, according to their annual report at the end of 2016. With a customer base equal to about half of the population in the US, they can afford to be selective in order to meet the expectations of the consumer. In addition, Uber has seen a similar explosion in both their drivers and riders, which boosts both business and helps them improve the quality of both the driver and the rider. This exponential increase caused both of these companies to grow rapidly, which has lead to a developing problem for both companies when managing the satisfaction of their users. In their attempt to expand quickly, they have begun to lose many existing customers and have created a barrier between their subscribers and the company itself.Uber is having a serious issue with the overload of riders and drivers, which has created problems for both parties in metropolitan areas.  Their focus on the “surge pricing” has led to a schism being formed between the customer base and the holding company. The issue is difficult because of fluctuating surge pricing that leads to drivers being upset when the rate should be higher than it is, and riders being upset when they have to spend much more than expected, especially in US cities. This issue directly hurts the experience of the user and can cause people to reach out to competitors such as Lyft or local taxis that have more consistent rates. This brings up a major issue Uber has had to overcome in scaling. They are growing at a rate where the supply, drivers, and the demand, riders, are fluctuating to extremes rather than maintain a balanced rate. This has to do with time and location, but Uber has no way to manage how many drivers can turn their app on. Surge rates can get out of control because drivers choose to or are not aware of the spikes in demand at any given time. Therefore, drivers are missing out on potential income and riders are spending more than desired, which hurts the quality of the service performed. Uber, in addition to dealing with problems with their growth, are having issues with retaining their customer base. To see the extent to which this is a problem for them, refer to the chart below:This chart, provided by a marketing research firm called Quettra,illustrates a snap shot of the retention rates for Uber and their competitor,Lyft. This graph shows the number of customers who, once they order their firstride, stay with Uber or Lyft over some duration of days. Shockingly, within aweek Uber drops down to about ten percent customer retention. This can onlymean one thing; they are acquiring customers at a fast pace, but cannot hold onto them. Retention rates are important metrics when analyzing the ability forcompanies, such as Uber, to maintain their profits down the road. These ratesfluctuate for many reasons, but managing the transaction of a high qualityproduct or service to a customer is a great way to retain more customers.  Many tech companies have experienced similar issues to Uber duringthe growth stage. Investment and planning around gaining new customers leavesyour ability to retain them in question due to the lack of focus on how toimprove the platform. Companies, especially centering on tech, must keepimproving in order to keep the interest and the business of their customersgoing or else they will experience failure. This has been the story forcompanies, such as Atari, who went bankrupt because “they believed their revolutionarygaming system would last until competitors ran them out of the market.” Thiscomes from a Bloomberg article written by Douglas Wong and Andrew Harris, whichdescribes how a “lack in innovativeness caused for their French partner to notyield a profit in over a decade” (1). To avoid a significant loss such as theone suffered by Atari, companies must focus on quality instead of reach to keepthemselves from losing their customer base, profits, and even their business.Total quality management in a peer-to-peer company is essential inorder to continue to hold onto a large number of consumers. The range of thevariation for goods or services performed is too large to use as a metric.Thus, eBay and Uber would most likely rely on the use of fishbone diagrams tofind causes for a customer to switch to a competitor. For example,miscommunication between the buyer, seller, and company could cause one ofthese parties to have complaints and issues with making a transaction. Sincethese companies cannot manage the process of a transaction directly, it makesthem have to correct issues with their software to hold on to customers. However,in a tech article provided by BBC News, eBay “set a guaranteed standard for3-day delivery.” This allows them to set standards and guidelines for theirsellers using numbers to hold individuals accountable who go against this normand improve transparency between the buyer, seller, and company if there is acomplaint. This has led to these companies performing research to find what arethe core problems with their systems, and what does the consumer value mostwhen using their software. eBay’s customer base, along with Uber’s, has experiencedtechnological issues with the protection of confidential information requiredto make a username. Cyber security and the threat of being hacked is a majorthreat to companies as they make the transition to electronic platforms. In2014, in an article written by Jose Pagliery for CNN, EBay saw a large-scale attackthat affected “many of its 148 million accounts resulting in a loss of accountinformation, addresses, phone numbers, and email accounts” (1). One of thefundamental roles of the holding company is to ensure the transactions andprivate information of each customer is secure from other users and hackers.Stealing that much data cost EBay customers and a great deal of money to fix.Uber has not seen a large scale hack, however, people have often complained ofrides being significantly more expensive than the estimated fare rate. Cyber security is a differentiating point between high quality and lower quality p2p companies, which is why Uber and EBay have prioritized making an effort to increasing their protection. In an interview with a Belarusian hacker conducted by Howard Amos, a reporter for The Guardian newspaper, he asked about the security of various systems. Sergei Pavlovich, who is serving ten years for crashing systems of companies and government agencies, stated, “it’s easier to hack an election than it is to hack eBay” (2). This comment shows the investment that companies like eBay and Uber are doing to increase the security of their users. It is frightening to think that a group of people with computers can steal hundreds of millions of profiles that could generate them billions in stealing people’s assets. In addition, Uber, according to a news report by Arjun Kharpal for CNBC, was responsible for “handing over 12 million peoples information to US officials” (1). With privacy being a big issue in the US over the past couple of years, this makes their consumers uneasy and more inclined to stop their use of the product. Therefore, companies with large revenues have to make the effort to protect their networks from the threat of a cyber attack. This is one of many costs the companies must deal with to ensure their personal quality checks are met.The main cost incurred by eBay and Uber, since they do not have to deal with holding, creating, or selling inventory, is opportunity cost. For Uber, this means that they focus on targeting high growth markets to bring in customers away from their competitors. Their opportunity is based on acquiring more customers from the taxi companies, Lyft, and chauffeurs. However, for eBay, their opportunity cost is based on advertising the sales of users more frequently, since most transactions on the website never happen. This means that both of these companies are missing out on millions upon millions of dollars in more revenue because they cannot directly affect their inventory system. Therefore, conventional means, such as measuring their total productivity measure and the use of six-sigma, would not work because these metrics vary greatly due to the vast difference in the price and location of each transaction between buyer and seller. Therefore, a strategic approach could be to find out what initially drew the customer to using their service in the first place, which would entail asking existing customers questions to get valid research. However, their challenge is that they have no sales people and they have no direct line to a seller, which means that measuring these factors is difficult. Therefore, they rely heavily on the use of trends in their industries to find out how to properly reach their consumers.The use of benchmarking has been critical for Uber and eBay when measuring their quality of services performed. For eBay, they set quality marks using their main competitor, Amazon. Refer to the graph, accessed through Ina Steiner’s article on Ecommerce, on the graph depicted below:This chart, provided by Foresee, a researching firm, portrays thecustomer satisfaction ratings for eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. Evident in thisgraph, Amazon is the benchmark for this industry since their satisfactionscores in 2013 were better than their top competitors. This means that, alongwith an internal review, eBay should do more research on the practices ofAmazon to better reach the customer. However, their business models vary andAmazon has the ability to have much greater control over their distributionprocess, which they are renowned for being one of the best companies in theworld for doing. These scores may not seem that far apart; however, thedifference of even six percent satisfaction encompasses millions of users foreBay that could switch to dealing with online retailers and go to Amazon. Uberstruggles with these scores as well, which is why you can see the rise ofcompetitors who offer a very similar platform, such as Etsy and Lyft, takingaway some of their market share and potential revenue. Another factor thatplays into these poor scores is reflected by the difficulty that Uber and eBayhave is their partnering with “suppliers.”Uber and eBay do not have any direct suppliers, however, they relyon the sellers or drivers to fill that role. In any supply chain network,cooperation and transparency amongst the company and its suppliers is crucialto operating efficiently at a large capacity. While many companies are relyingon large distribution channels to deliver a product or service, these areunique because they go from supplier directly to the consumer for eachtransaction. The two companies decentralize their organization meaning theygive control over various parts to individuals in order to promote increases inquality for each transaction. In eBay’s case, they rely on individuals toprocure good that they do not want or need anymore that allows for a potentialbuyer to make the purchase and give eBay their profits in holding fees. Thismeans that they have a large number of stockpiled goods on their site awaitinga sale, which occurs during different seasons for a variable amount due to eachbeing unique. In Uber’s case, they rely on their ratings system to promotesupplier preferencing or the ability to control that is going to provide theservice to the customers. However, for both of these companies, they struggleto create long-lasting partnerships, which hinders their ability toconsistently provide a good or service at the best quality. Since they cannotdraft new expectations for each ‘supplier’, they must be dependent on thehonesty and ability for the transaction to occur to the customer’sexpectations. Trusting a supplier is something that many traditional companieshave both issues and doubts about, but peer-to-peer transaction based companieswill not be successful unless the suppliers can deliver. Therefore, it isimportant for eBay and Uber to make their company attractive to the bestpossible suppliers of their good or service.Developing an attractive platform for people to offer a product andtime on has allowed companies like Uber and eBay to bring in high quality individualsto increase the brand image of these companies. For example, a report writtenby Niall McCarthy, based on information provided by The National Bureau ofEconomic Research, states Uber drivers can make 1.5 times the amount atraditional taxi driver can make when driving on the app. In addition, theirslogan “Get your side hustle on” markets to the working middle class Americanswho want to work part time to make extra cash, which helps broaden the amountof candidates they can choose from.  Moreover, as a person who grew up rightoutside of New York City, the prices of taxis can get very high depending onthe time of day, and based on experience, an Uber costs less, and is much moreconvenient to find than a taxi cab. Similarly, eBay markets itself by allowingpeople to make extra cash on the goods they do not want, while also providing adiscount for the buyer. Since they have to find a way to market to each side ofthe transaction, these companies made sure to be competitive amongst both thecompanies selling these concepts on top of the people who are purchasing themby slashing prices and increasing profits for the buyer and seller. This isalso a big reason why they have not been profitable for years because they hadto grow and build with not a lot of cash inflow. Therefore, creating a platformattractive for consumers has allowed for them to both grow in size and take inquality people to represent the company and bring in profits. The ability to create an attractive platform to increase customersatisfaction has been influenced by their ability to offer their good andservice at a large scale. Similar to an economy of scale, these companiescreate a stockpile of drivers and products in their system awaiting use orsale. For example, Uber understands that when people want a ride, they need toget a ride to someplace that can be dependent on time. This means that having alarge amount of drivers available is important to make sure a customer can getto their destination within a reasonable amount of time so their expectationsare met and they continue to order rides. Similarly, people use eBay to finddeals or odd items you can’t find at a regular store, so it is important tohave a diverse set of products on their site to connect the right buyer withthe right customer. In both of these cases, the companies satisfy their usersneeds to keep the satisfaction with the company high. However, an importantaspect for these platforms, especially in the tech world, is the need tocontinue to innovate their user experience to improve their ability to satisfythe customers. eBay has invested a great deal of money in order to make the qualityof their platform better for their users. They have been able to do this byincreasing their investments into the acquisition and developing of programsthat would improve their software. A graph portraying how they choose to use thisinvestment is included below: Shown above, included in a blog post based on statements from eBay’sCEO, John Donahoe, are the various investments made for eBay’s growth. Thisdata was acquired from CB Insights, a subscription based website providingmetrics and analysis on companies across various industries. According to thepie chart above, the most notable percentages are ecommerce, their onlineplatform for transactions, and the investment in their payment system beingPayPal. In a press release by eBay on their website, PayPal, a system forpayment developed by eBay, Inc., made transactions amongst users moreefficient, which is why there are “more than 152 million accounts” (eBay, Inc.Staff). To invest in a system that helps to grow their website was importantbecause consumers can see when a company decides to make their product moreuser friendly. Moreover, all of their acquisitions can be reflected on the needto improve and retain their customers from moving to other more appealingdesigns. A company must know how to connect with their consumer in order toimprove to their satisfaction. In addition, acquiring other companies that canimprove your own is essential for holding on to their market share. This isbecause maintaining a high value product that leaves the customer dazzled witheach new improvement allows for companies like eBay and Uber to continue to, asCEO John Donahoe said in his statement about PayPal’s separation from eBay, “understandhow to innovate and deliver compelling experiences for customers.” In a marketwhere innovation happens seemingly every day, it is essential to continue togrow and build your company in order to compete. Having large amounts ofrevenue streams, such as those held by Uber and eBay, has allowed for thesecompanies to invest in their software to prevent other competitors fromovertaking them. On top of this, being one of the first companies into theirmarket gives them a competitive advantage because they get to set the pricesand standards that would be competitors have to meet and challenge. Setting standards and correctly identifying factors that influence acustomer’s satisfaction rating is important for remaining profitable andcompetitive. A graph, provided by an article written by James Cook for UKBusiness Insider, depicts Uber’s information on their most frequent complaintsfrom riders using their app. This graph can be seen below:This graph depicts the top five complaints help by riders when they provide feedback for why they did not give a driver a five-star or high quality rating. This chart can be used by quality control employees to properly identify and fix issues that people have with the app. In response to these issues, “Uber, back in 2014, released to their largest market at the time, San Francisco, a list of how to improve their ratings.” (Cook 1). A statement such as this one not only improves the satisfaction of the drivers using the app, but can help to improve the quality of the services performed as well. Since Uber is a product that provides a service for riders, and drivers, it could take feedback such as this and conduct a QFD analysis on how they can improve as a whole. For example, Uber started making drivers use Google Maps, which could very well be a response to the large amount of negative feedback focusing on the poor routes drivers are taking. Moreover, I remember them updating the app to allow you to track and preview the shortest possible route for your trip. A QFD analysis finds the most sensitive areas of customer feedback and the product or quality of service, and compares them to find what is the source of positive or negative feedback of a company. One can say that the complaint about driver route can be reflected on the company, so it is in their power to provide systems to improve the quality. However, complaints such as poor driving or being disrespectful to the customers reflects poor quality on the driver, which is why Uber has the ratings system to find the individuals with the most complaints so they can be replaced to improve the quality of the brand and service. Thus, it is important for Uber and eBay to continually have contact with the customer to understand their expectations and complaints in order to continually meet their expectations when they use their company’s products. An important factor to consider with customer expectations is that they are constantly changing. Consumers enjoy updates and new designs when it comes to using a product. As a user of Uber and eBay, their designs change frequently in response to the need to keep a consumer engaged and bring them back to the app or website. This is accomplished through marketing research, which supports quality management because it provides up to date information on various types of consumers. Such updates are crucial in staying competitive in their markets. Conclusion:Uber and eBay, like many technology platforms, experienced many challenging issues with their products, but maintaining a high quality has allowed them to persevere. They have faced problems from cyber attacks and user security, issues with the functionality of their software, difficulty managing the relationship between the buyer and seller of the good and service, issues with generating a profit due to the need to invest in growth, and the constant threat of innovation from a competitor that could drive them out of business. These problems have cost them greatly, and it is no secret that these have all been barriers to entry for new companies because only one with the manpower and funds are able to handle them without fearing bankruptcy. No company is bulletproof or has no flaws despite their size, so the need to innovate and remain attached to the expectations and feedback of the consumers is what has allowed for Uber and eBay to remain profitable over many years. These companies have championed the quality control issues that have arose due to their large investment capability and research into the minds of their consumers. In addition, their research lets them control the people offering a good or service, which has helped them improve quality by pinpointing individuals or trends that are causing customers to complain and give negative feedback. They have entered a market where they depend on not only consumers using their product, but individuals taking on the role as employees to uphold the company image and quality of the product. In an industry filled with incredible successes and miserable failures, the risks have always been high, but these companies have been able to survive and thrive thanks to quality management. References:Simpson, N., & Hancock, P. (2013). Practical Operations Management (C. Rose, Ed.). Naperville, Illinois: HERCHER Publishing Incorporated.Dellarocas, C. (2001, July). Analyzing the Economic Efficiency of eBaylike Online Reputation Reporting Mechanisms (Tech. No. 102). Retrieved http://ebusiness.mit.edu/research/papers/102_Dellarocas_eBay.pdfAmos, H. (2017, March 29). Belarus New East network ‘It’s easier to hack an election than eBay’: confessions of a Belarusian hacker. The Guardian.Kosoff, M. (2015, August 5). New revenue figures show $50 billion Uber is losing a lot of money. Www.businessinsider.com.Pagliery, J. (2014, May 21). EBay customers must reset