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 - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices,
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 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 -
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
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.
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.
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.
Analytics focus
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Atul Arun Pathak, Sunil Kumar Sarangi can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Yourstory Entrepreneurial digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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 -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Yourstory Entrepreneurial, firm in the HBR case study YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys HBR case study mentions - Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Yourstory Entrepreneurial is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Atul Arun Pathak, Sunil Kumar Sarangi suggests that, Yourstory Entrepreneurial is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
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 -
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.
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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, YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Yourstory Entrepreneurial is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys 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.
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.
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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial in the consumer business. Now Yourstory Entrepreneurial can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys, Yourstory Entrepreneurial may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
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.
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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Yourstory Entrepreneurial has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Yourstory Entrepreneurial needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline 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 Yourstory Entrepreneurial in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Yourstory Entrepreneurial 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 YourStory: Strategically Communicating Entrepreneurial Journeys .
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.
