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 - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, 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 -
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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Twitter Service is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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.
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Twitter Service 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Twitter Service 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 Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Twitter Service 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)
– Twitter Service 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 Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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 -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Twitter Service 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. Twitter Service 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.
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.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Twitter Service 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.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Twitter Service 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 - Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Twitter Service 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Simon Parker, Ken Mark suggests that, Twitter Service 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Twitter Service 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.
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 -
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Twitter Service can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Twitter Service 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 Twitter Service to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Twitter Service to increase its market reach. Twitter Service 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Twitter Service is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Twitter Service 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Twitter Service 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 Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse? .
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.
Environmental challenges
– Twitter Service 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. Twitter Service can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse?, Twitter Service may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
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.