Case Study Description of YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys
In July 2015, the founder of YourStory Media Private Limited (YourStory) needed to make key strategic decisions to scale up her business. YourStory was a top-ranked online media platform that focused on developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India by publishing news stories about entrepreneurs and start-ups and by organizing entrepreneurial conferences and events. Since its inception in 2008, the company had grown slowly and steadily using its own funds. However, it needed to expand rapidly in order to attract venture capital funding. YourStory's founder knew that potential investors would translate their initial interest into actual investments only if she was able to demonstrate that YourStory had a coherent, comprehensive, and consistent story of its own. She had identified various strategic growth alternatives: given the evolving online media marketplace, which should she pursue to meet her expansion goal? The authors Atul Arun Pathak and Sunil Kumar Sarangi are affiliated with XLRI-Xavier School of Management.
Swot Analysis of "YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys" written by Atul Arun Pathak, Sunil Kumar Sarangi includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Yourstory Entrepreneurial facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Yourstory Entrepreneurial, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Yourstory Entrepreneurial
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Yourstory Entrepreneurial
Strengths YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Yourstory Entrepreneurial in YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Yourstory Entrepreneurial to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Yourstory Entrepreneurial to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Yourstory Entrepreneurial to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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.
Learning organization
- Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys - 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 Strategy & Execution field
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Yourstory Entrepreneurial
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Yourstory Entrepreneurial does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Yourstory Entrepreneurial in the sector have low bargaining power. YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Yourstory Entrepreneurial to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys are -
Need for greater diversity
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Yourstory Entrepreneurial is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Yourstory Entrepreneurial needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Yourstory Entrepreneurial to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Yourstory Entrepreneurial vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Yourstory Entrepreneurial is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Yourstory Entrepreneurial has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Yourstory Entrepreneurial even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 - YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Yourstory Entrepreneurial products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Yourstory Entrepreneurial needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys, in the dynamic environment Yourstory Entrepreneurial has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Yourstory Entrepreneurial has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys | 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Yourstory Entrepreneurial to increase its market reach. Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
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. Yourstory Entrepreneurial can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Yourstory Entrepreneurial in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Yourstory Entrepreneurial can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Yourstory Entrepreneurial to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Yourstory Entrepreneurial can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Yourstory Entrepreneurial can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Yourstory Entrepreneurial operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Threats YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Regulatory challenges
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial.
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. Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
Increasing wage structure of Yourstory Entrepreneurial
– 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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Yourstory Entrepreneurial can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Yourstory Entrepreneurial can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
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. Yourstory Entrepreneurial needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Yourstory Entrepreneurial with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Yourstory Entrepreneurial is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.