Strategic Analysis of Twitter: A Business Development Report

This report presents a strategic analysis of Twitter, examining its business operations, mission statement, and strategic decision-making processes. It applies the Ashridge Mission Model to evaluate Twitter's purpose, strategy, values, and behavioral standards, as well as the alignment of employee and organizational values. The analysis explores Twitter's strategic decisions, including both successes and failures, such as the rejection of Facebook's acquisition offer and the impact of CEO changes. The report also differentiates between intended and deliberate strategies, assesses Twitter's competitive advantages, and discusses how the company sustains its market position. Furthermore, the report reviews the financial performance of Twitter from 2013 to 2015, highlighting user growth and revenue increases, while also touching upon past challenges. The report concludes with an overview of the company's evolution and its strategies for maintaining its position in the social media landscape.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS OF TWITTER
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS OF TWITTER
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF TWITTER
Part A
Answer to Question 1
About Twitter
Twitter is a multinational organization which has web based operations. The company
was founded in the year 2006 by Noah Glass, Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone.
The organization has its operations mainly in the areas of sharing news and social
networking. The users are provided with a platform for interacting with others with the help
of tweets which are posted by them. This helps in the successful interaction between the
users. The company has its headquarters in San Francisco, United States. The popularity of
the services provided by Twitter increased in the year 2012 with the number of users
amounting to around 100 million (Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf., 2018).
Twitter further acquired various other organizations during the course of its
operations in the industry. The companies acquired by Twitter include, Vine, which operates
in the field of video manufacturing. Twitter also launched its music app which enhanced the
features that are provided to the customers. Crashlytics was acquired by Twitter in 2013. The
organization thereby registered its operations with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission in the same year. The growth of the company slowed down in 2015 and other
organizations were further acquired by Twitter. Niche and Periscope are two other major
companies that were acquired by Twitter (Babnik et al., 2014).
Defining the mission statement formed by Twitter with the help of Ashridge Mission
Model
According to the Ashridge Mission Model, Twitter needs to develop a specific
purpose which can help the company to differentiate the operations from other companies.

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The model thereby identifies the scope of operations of the company. The organization has
set the mission in such a way so that the users can be empowered and they are able to share
the ideas which they possess. The main factor that helps the organization in becoming the
greatest producer of revenues are related to the strategies stated by the Ashridge Mission
Model. Twitter can reach the global audience by building connections among the various
users of the platform (Mark Ken & Parker Simon2013).
Twitter is known in the industry for distributing products with the help of information
sharing. The investors of the company are satisfied and this has further resulted the increase
of the prices of stock. The main objective of the company is based on the maximization of
value of stakeholders, suppliers, users and the employees. The mission and the values of
Twitter are aligned with personal values of employees. The company observes high levels of
ethical standards by adhering to the policies and rules (Mark Ken & Parker Simon2013). The
management of the company is able to think in a clear manner with the help of the strong
sense that they have related to their mission. New strategies are developed by the company
and the existing mission is analysed so that it can keep pace with the changes that occur in the
fast moving internet world. The four major elements that are defined by the Ashridge mission
model are followed by the organization (Babnik et al., 2014).
Purpose of the company
The main purpose of the organization is to become beneficial for its and avoid
exploiting them for the personal interest of Twitter. The impact that the strategic decisions
can have on the stakeholders of the organization form the major basis of these decisions
(Mark Ken & Parker Simon2013).

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Strategy of the company
Twitter has developed its strategy with respect to the commercial logic related to the
operations of the company. The behaviour of the company is related to the purpose that it
wishes to serve. The organization has thereby been able to become a leader in the domain in
which it has its operations (Mark Ken & Parker Simon2013).
Values of the organization
The employees who are a part of the company are quite proud related to this fact. The
staff of Twitter have a strong belief on the sharing of knowledge in an effective manner. The
organization is also committed towards the empowerment of women in the world. Many
programs and services are funded by Twitter at the time of any time of disaster (Mark Ken &
Parker Simon2013).
Behavioural standards of the organization
The purpose and the strategy of Twitter is related to the service that is provided to the
employees. The company is also committed towards providing the correct piece of
information to the employees. The staff is also able to provide their opinions regarding the
policies and the regulations of the company and ways of amending them
(Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf., 2018).
Aligning the values of the organization with the values of employees
The major suggestion that is provided by the last component of the Ashridge Mission
model is the significance of aligning the personal values possessed by the employees with the
values that have been set the company. The staff of Twitter are further linked with the values
of the organization. The major point that has been stated by defined values of Twitter deals
with the freedom which is provided to employees so that they can express themselves.

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STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF TWITTER
Twitter has provided high importance to passionate employees and the personalities that are
described by them (Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf., 2018).
Analysis related to the expansion of the organization based on mission statement
The annual report of the organization in the year 2013 has suggested that Twitter has
planned its international expansion for the purpose of increasing the number of users. The
major significance of was placed by Twitter in the services related to advertising. This has
been helpful for the advertisers to reach the customers directly with their product offerings.
High competition levels have also been faced by the advertisers who place their ads on the
platform of Twitter (Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf., 2018).
Answer to Question 2
Strategic way of decision-making
The decision-making related process of the company deals with the specific strategies
which are important for the smooth operations of Twitter. The formation of the objectives of
the company is also based on the decision-making process. Mission of the company also
helps in the achievement of the goals in a systematic manner. The strategies of the company
need to change according to the changes that have occurred in the external environment. The
strategies of Twitter are mainly estimated periodically and required changes are further
implemented. The internal environment of the company is analysed with the help of SWOT
framework which analyses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats that are
faced by the organization (Babnik et al., 2014).
Strategic decisions taken by the organization
The growth has been shown by Twitter in the initial years of the operations. The
leader of the company Jack Dorsey has been successful in gaining a user base of 350 million

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people. However, the management of the company has also taken many wrong decisions
which have led to a threat to the reputation of Twitter. The offer made by the huge social
media based organization Facebook related to the acquisition of Twitter was rejected by Jack
Dorsey which later proved to be a huge mistake. This led to the elimination of the CEO of the
company from his post in the year 2008. The deal that was rejected by the CEO was worth 50
million Dollars. This was a huge loss for the company as the management was already
running short of the funds. The organization had to thereby face many financial hardships in
the year 2009 owing to the heavy growth in the number of users and the inability of Twitter
in providing the adequate amount of services. The partnership that was earlier between
Twitter and Google broke in the year 2009. The various content that was available on the
Google website was deleted instantly (Babnik et al., 2014). The company also faced issues
related to the attack that was made by the cross-site scripting in 2010. The organization came
under huge pressure and the levels of confusion were high among the various users. The
changes that were made by the company in the block related option threatened the privacy of
the customers. The users were not being able to restrict the unwanted followers in their
profiles. This led to the insecurity that was faced by the huge number of users of the platform.
This change had to face huge levels of criticism by the experts. Another major step that was
taken by the company was related to the introduction of the blue line conversation which
helped the users so that they are able to link their own previous conversations (Mark Ken &
Parker Simon2013). Twitter also took steps regarding the increase of the user-friendliness of
the platform. The organization was under huge pressure regarding the selling of shares which
led to the changes that were made in the website. A big confusion was created in the
company based on the resignation of the CEO in the year 2015. This made way for the re-
appointment of Jack Dorsey as the CEO. New changes were implemented in the company
after the re-entry of Dorsey in the post of the CEO of Twitter. A fresh start was made by the

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organization in 2016 which further improved the operations of Twitter. The return of Jack
Dorsey had thereby marked the start of an entire new era for the company. This new start
helped the company in regaining its position in the market
(Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf., 2018).
Differences between intended and deliberate process of strategy making
The concept based on deliberate strategy deals with the vision of the company which
further leads to the formation of the strategy. The process of planning and thinking is
important before the perfect actions are taken. Intended strategy on the hand is the strategy
which deals with the execution and the implementation of the plans in the company. This
plan can also be defined as the business plan for the company (Babnik et al., 2014).
Competitive advantage of the organization
The competitive advantage related to an organization mainly deals with the process
that is based on the sharing of information in a fast way. The users are capable of selecting
the source of the information which are interested to follow. The range of connectivity that is
followed by Twitter is further based on the network that has been established by the company
with the help of its users. The users of the company mainly belong to the range of homeless
people to the millionaires (Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf., 2018).
Sustaining competitive advantage of Twitter
The organization has proved to be successful in the process of sustaining the
competitive advantage that has been gained by Twitter over the other social media
organizations in the industry. Twitter has totally changed and revived its operations after the
several of confusion and turmoil that has been faced by the company in the industry.

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The important aspects that are a part of the successful operations of Twitter are
discussed in the analysis. The values that were followed by the company over the years and
the strategies that have been formulated and implemented are also analysed in detail. The
connection that has been established by the company between the values of the company and
the personal values of the employees have also been identified in the discussion. The
management had also taken several wrong decisions when the situation was not quite
favourable for the organization (Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf., 2018).
The company has proved to become successful in the maintenance of the topmost
position in the market after facing the severe issues and then coming out of the situation of
turmoil. The financial reports that have been published by the company has also depicted that
Twitter has shown high levels of growth within the years 2013 to 2015. The increase that has
been experienced in the number of users of the platform have further resulted to the increase
of the revenues that are generated by the company. The increase in the user base has also
increased the number of advertiser who wish to advertise the products on this platform. The
advertisements placed on the platform have further increased the revenues of Twitter to high
levels (Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf., 2018).

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References
Babnik, K., Breznik, K., Dermol, V., & Trunk Širca, N. (2014). The mission statement:
organisational culture perspective. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 114(4),
612-627.
Mark, Ken & Parker, Simon, (2013) "Case 26: Twitter" from Ireland, R. Duane et al, The
management of strategy: concepts and cases pp.371-377, [United States]: South-
Western/Cengage Learning
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