Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition
In 2001, Libby Sartain, chief people officer, arrived at Yahoo! to find a demoralized Internet company without a well-defined culture, a coordinated method to communicate with employees, or developed processes, policies, and procedures. In Sartain's first year at Yahoo!, the company was sent reeling by the collapse of the dot-com bubble. For the first time in its history as a public company, Yahoo! was forced to lay off a substantial part of its workforce. Predictably, morale at Yahoo! was shaken. There was also uncertainty at the senior executive level. Many of the company's top officers departed during the turmoil, leaving the newly installed chairman and CEO, Terry Semel, with an incomplete executive team. Moreover, Semel had yet to articulate his vision and strategy for the company, and the economic landscape was deteriorating. Almost three years had passed since Sartain's arrival, and the company overcome some crucial challenges. For the moment at least, it seemed the worst was over. Sartain had been working hard at launching an internal branding campaign at Yahoo! to transform the company's start-up culture into a more traditional one.
Authors :: Tim Perlstein, Aneesha Capur, Charles A. O'Reilly
Swot Analysis of "Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition" written by Tim Perlstein, Aneesha Capur, Charles A. O'Reilly includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Yahoo Sartain's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Downsizing, Employee retention, Human resource management, Motivating people, Organizational culture, Organizational structure and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Yahoo Sartain's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Yahoo Sartain's operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Yahoo Sartain's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Yahoo Sartain's
Strengths Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Yahoo Sartain's in Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Yahoo Sartain's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Yahoo Sartain's has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Yahoo Sartain's has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Yahoo Sartain's is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Yahoo Sartain's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Yahoo Sartain's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Yahoo Sartain's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Yahoo Sartain's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Yahoo Sartain's in the sector have low bargaining power. Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Yahoo Sartain's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Yahoo Sartain's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Yahoo Sartain's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Yahoo Sartain's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Yahoo Sartain's has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Yahoo Sartain's are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Yahoo Sartain's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Yahoo Sartain's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Yahoo Sartain's is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Yahoo Sartain's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Yahoo Sartain's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Yahoo Sartain's has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Yahoo Sartain's needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Yahoo Sartain's has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Yahoo Sartain's has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Yahoo Sartain's 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition, is just above the industry average. Yahoo Sartain's needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition HBR case study mentions - Yahoo Sartain's takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Yahoo Sartain's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Yahoo Sartain's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Yahoo Sartain's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Yahoo Sartain's to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Yahoo Sartain's to increase its market reach. Yahoo Sartain's will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Yahoo Sartain's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Yahoo Sartain's to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Yahoo Sartain's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Yahoo Sartain's has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Yahoo Sartain's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Yahoo Sartain's can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Yahoo Sartain's can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Organizational Development segment.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Yahoo Sartain's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Yahoo Sartain's can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Yahoo Sartain's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Yahoo Sartain's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Yahoo Sartain's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Buying journey improvements
– Yahoo Sartain's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Threats Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Yahoo Sartain's demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Yahoo Sartain's in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Yahoo Sartain's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Yahoo Sartain's can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Yahoo Sartain's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Yahoo Sartain's will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Yahoo Sartain's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Yahoo Sartain's is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Yahoo Sartain's.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Yahoo Sartain's can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition .
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Yahoo Sartain's in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Yahoo Sartain's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.