Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse?
Twitter has become an incredibly popular micro-blogging service since its launch in 2006. Its founders have ambitious plans for the service, and are backed by $155 million of venture capital funding, which valued the company at $1 billion in 2009. Twitter seems to attract a diverse audience of users from political organizers looking to disseminate information to their followers; businesses looking to reach out, in real time, to potential customers; and for social networking purposes. The company charges consumers nothing for its service. By 2009, competitors have emerged - some of whom have deep pockets. Yet, it remains unclear - at least to observers - whether the company will ever make money from its service.
Swot Analysis of "Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse?" written by Simon Parker, Ken Mark includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Twitter Service facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Networking, Social platforms and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Twitter Service, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Twitter Service 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 Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Twitter Service
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Twitter Service
Strengths Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Twitter Service in Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Twitter Service has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Twitter Service 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.
Training and development
– Twitter Service has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Twitter Service 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.
Learning organization
- Twitter Service 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 Twitter Service is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Twitter Service in the sector have low bargaining power. Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Twitter Service to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Twitter Service to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Twitter Service to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Twitter Service is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Twitter Service in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Twitter Service
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Twitter Service does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Twitter Service digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Twitter Service 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.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Twitter Service 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 Twitter Service in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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 Twitter Service has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Twitter Service is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Twitter Service needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Twitter Service to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Twitter Service is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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 Twitter Service 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? HBR case study mentions - Twitter Service 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Twitter Service 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Twitter Service 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse?, is just above the industry average. Twitter Service 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Twitter Service 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Twitter Service, firm in the HBR case study Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? | 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 Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Twitter Service can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Twitter Service can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Twitter Service has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Twitter Service to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? case study. Twitter Service can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Twitter Service can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Twitter Service operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Twitter Service 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Twitter Service can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Twitter Service 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Twitter Service can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Twitter Service 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, Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Twitter Service 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Loyalty marketing
– Twitter Service 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Twitter Service in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Twitter Service to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Twitter Service 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 Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Twitter Service to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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 Twitter Service 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. Twitter Service 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Twitter Service 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 Twitter Service is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Twitter Service has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Twitter Service needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Increasing wage structure of Twitter Service
– 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 Twitter Service.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Twitter Service 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Twitter Service can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Twitter Service needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Twitter Service.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Twitter Service 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.
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 Twitter Service in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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 Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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 Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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 Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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 Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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 Twitter Service needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.