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 - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, 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 -
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.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Inventure Siroya 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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.
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.
Training and development
– Inventure Siroya has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Inventure Siroya in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
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.
Analytics focus
– Inventure Siroya 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 Abby Fifer Mandell, Megan Strawther, James Zhu 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Inventure Siroya has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Inventure Siroya 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.
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.
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.
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 -
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 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.
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.
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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Inventure Siroya 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. Inventure Siroya 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, Inventure Siroya 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid, 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Inventure Siroya 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Abby Fifer Mandell, Megan Strawther, James Zhu suggests that, Inventure Siroya 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid, is just above the industry average. Inventure Siroya 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.
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.
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 -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Inventure Siroya can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Inventure Siroya operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Inventure Siroya 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.
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.
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 Inventure Siroya in the consumer business. Now Inventure Siroya 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 Inventure Siroya to increase its market reach. Inventure Siroya 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.
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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Inventure Siroya can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Inventure Siroya 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, InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid, 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
– 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.
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 -
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Inventure Siroya 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. Inventure Siroya can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Inventure Siroya 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 InVenture: Building Credit Scoring Tools For The Base Of The Pyramid .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Inventure Siroya 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.
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 .
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 Inventure Siroya business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Inventure Siroya is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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.
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.
