IN: Inside Innovation June 11, 2009, 5:00PM EST

Can eBay Get Its Tech Savvy Back?

(page 2 of 2)

Carges is changing the way eBay looks at technology, says its CEO Timothy Archibald

A veteran of enterprise software developer BEA Systems, Carges may be able to speed things along. "Mark has always been close to customers, and has first-hand knowledge about how to translate customer requirements into what the technology is actually capable of," says William Coleman, who co-founded BEA in 1995. And Carges' track record suggests he'll stick around. When Carges, 47, met with Donahoe last summer, it was his first job interview since 1984, when he started at Bell Labs after receiving a master's degree in computer science from New York University. (His Bell project, online transaction software called Tuxedo, was acquired by BEA, which in turn was acquired by Oracle (ORCL).)

HIGH-LEVEL CULTURE SHIFT

Carges' plan for eBay is to take the "agile" method of software development epitomized by the daily deal widget and expand it to other areas of the site. New product pages will be customized to better accommodate different categories, such as jewelry and clothing. And the company is helping third-party developers create applications for eBay's site such as a UPS-branded terminal for monitoring shipments.

Donahoe is sending a strong message to investors by putting Carges front and center at events like the company's annual presentation to analysts in March and the Web 2.0 Expo in April. "Mark gets it," says Donahoe. "He is changing the way we think about technology at eBay." Still, many analysts are cautious. "There is certainly a culture shift at the highest level," says Youssef Squali, an analyst with global investment bank Jefferies. "The issue is, how do you pass it through the ranks?"

One answer: a new seating chart. Since last year, eBay has moved some business staffers and software developers who share a specific focus, like search, to the same work areas. And though the company laid off 10% of its work-force, or about 1,000 employees, last October, Carges is recruiting candidates to fill specific needs, such as a senior director of design. He shouldn't have trouble, says former staffer Pasque: "People are interested in working on a problem like eBay."

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"Can eBay (EBAY) Get Its Tech Savvy Back?" (Inside Innovation, June 22) incorrectly attributed a quote about eBay's heyday in the early 2000s. The comment came from Marty Abbott, who left the company in 2005, not Marty Cagan.

Douglas MacMillan is a staff writer for BusinessWeek in New York.

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