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 - – technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Yahoo Sartain's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Yahoo Sartain's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
Learning organization
- Yahoo Sartain's is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Yahoo Sartain's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Yahoo Sartain's has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Yahoo Sartain's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Yahoo Sartain's has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
High brand equity
– Yahoo Sartain's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Yahoo Sartain's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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 -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Yahoo Sartain's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Yahoo Sartain's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Yahoo Sartain's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition, in the dynamic environment Yahoo Sartain's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Yahoo Sartain's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Yahoo Sartain's has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Yahoo Sartain's has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
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.
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 -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Yahoo Sartain's has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Internal Branding at Yahoo!: Crafting the Employee Value Proposition - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Yahoo Sartain's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Yahoo Sartain's can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Yahoo Sartain's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Yahoo Sartain's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Yahoo Sartain's in the consumer business. Now Yahoo Sartain's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Yahoo Sartain's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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.
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 wage structure of Yahoo Sartain's
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Yahoo Sartain's.
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.
