InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid
In 2011, Shivani Siroya founded InVenture, a social enterprise aimed to provide credit scores and accounting tools for individuals in emerging markets who traditionally lacked access to formal financial institutions. InVenture harnessed the power of mobile technology by collecting data points on its users to deliver real-time credit scores that would enable consumers to access greater financial, social, and intellectual capital. The case revolves around the consideration of which product architecture and emerging markets InVenture should focus on: India or Kenya. Siroya and her team must determine which products and which market make the most sense in terms of its mission and the company's strategic growth.
Authors :: Abby Fifer Mandell, Megan Strawther, James Zhu
Swot Analysis of "InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid" written by Abby Fifer Mandell, Megan Strawther, James Zhu includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Inventure Siroya facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial finance, Product development, Social enterprise and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Inventure Siroya, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Inventure Siroya 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Inventure Siroya
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 Inventure Siroya
Strengths InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Inventure Siroya in InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Inventure Siroya to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Inventure Siroya to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Inventure Siroya is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Inventure Siroya is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Inventure Siroya 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Inventure Siroya 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Inventure Siroya is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Inventure Siroya is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Inventure Siroya 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 Inventure Siroya is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Inventure Siroya 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.
Organizational Resilience of Inventure Siroya
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Inventure Siroya does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Inventure Siroya has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Inventure Siroya to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Inventure Siroya in the sector have low bargaining power. InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Inventure Siroya to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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 Inventure Siroya has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid, it seems that the employees of Inventure Siroya don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Inventure Siroya is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Inventure Siroya 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid HBR case study mentions - Inventure Siroya 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 Inventure Siroya supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Inventure Siroya vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Inventure Siroya 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Inventure Siroya, firm in the HBR case study InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Inventure Siroya is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Inventure Siroya needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Inventure Siroya to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Inventure Siroya products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Inventure Siroya needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Inventure Siroya is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid | 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Inventure Siroya 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Inventure Siroya can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Inventure Siroya can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Inventure Siroya can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Inventure Siroya 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Inventure Siroya 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.
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. Inventure Siroya 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. Inventure Siroya 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 Inventure Siroya has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Inventure Siroya to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid case study. Inventure Siroya can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Inventure Siroya can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Inventure Siroya 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Inventure Siroya to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Inventure Siroya 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 Inventure Siroya to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Inventure Siroya 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Inventure Siroya 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.
Threats InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Inventure Siroya has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Inventure Siroya 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Inventure Siroya demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Increasing wage structure of Inventure Siroya
– 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 Inventure Siroya.
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 Inventure Siroya.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Inventure Siroya with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid, Inventure Siroya 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 .
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. Inventure Siroya needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Inventure Siroya 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Inventure Siroya in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
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. Inventure Siroya can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Inventure Siroya 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Inventure Siroya 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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 Inventure Siroya needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
