Analyzing Twitter's Strategic Decisions from 2006 to 2016

The analysis covers Twitter's journey from 2006 to 2016, focusing on its strategic decisions that led to market turmoil yet maintained competitiveness. The study contrasts deliberate strategies, emphasizing planning before action, against intended strategies explicitly outlined in business plans. Despi...Read More

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
Leadership and Strategic Improvement at Twitter
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
Question 1
About the company
Twitter came into existence in the year 2006. The founders are namely, Noah Glass, Jack
Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone. This organization mainly provides a social networking
platform and news is also shared here. The users can interact with the help of tweets posted by
them. This company is based in San Francisco, United States. The service gained a lot of
popularity in the year 2012 and it had as many as 100 million users. Twitter has experienced a
speedy growth initially. From the years 2011 to 2014 Twitter had a huge growth.
The organization acquired some companies and also launched some new apps related to
the Twitter. The company acquired a video clip company named Vine. It then launched the
Twitter Music App. Twitter also acquired a company named Crashlytics in the year 2013. In the
year 2013, Twitter announced its registration with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Twitter then filed its Initial Public Offering (Mark et al., 2013). The growth of the company
slowed down from the year 2015. In this year also Twitter acquired many other companies. It
acquired an ad network company for the stars of the social media named Niche. It also acquired
an app named Periscope which streamed live videos.
Defining mission statement of Twitter with the help of Ashridge Mission Model
As the Ashridge Mission Model implies, the company must have an enduring purpose
that enables it to distinguish itself from others competitors. The model also identifies the scopes
of its operations in case of its products or services as well as the market terms. The mission of

2LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
Twitter is to empower its users to create and share their own ideas and knowledge instantly
without any barriers. What makes Twitter one of the largest revenue inducing Internet companies
of the world is the strategies guided by the Ashridge Mission Model. Twitter reaches its largest
daily global audience by building a connection among themselves and rest of the world via
sharing its information (Mark et al., 2013).
The company distributes its perform product in this way. Therefore, twitter has become
the company to make its investors happy and its stock price grew by 7%. Twitter. Twitter’s
primary objective have always been in maximizing the values of long term its stakeholders,
employees, suppliers and users. Following the model’s values, the company’s mission values
have aligned the employees’ personal values with the values of the organization.
The company adheres the laws and operates according to it and all the time observes
highest standard of ethics. Twitter’s strong sense of mission has enabled it to think clearly about
the mission and discuss its various aspects with colleagues. In order to keep itself updated in this
changing internet world, Twitter keeps on developing the new and analyzing its existing mission.
The company has followed the Ashridge Mission Model, which has four main elements defined
by Yeung and Campbell.
Purpose of the organization
The organization’s purpose is to be beneficial to the stakeholders and never plays with
them for own interest. Twitter’s strategic decisions are governed by its prospective impact on the
shareholder’s returns. Twitter always tries to satisfy its employees and stakeholders. According
to Campbell, the organization having higher ideal can attract and retain its enthusiastic as well as
committed employees.

3LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
Strategy of Twitter
Strategy of Twitter is chiefly the commercial logic of the company. It links the purpose
with behavior in logical ways. Twitter is the international leader in its domain, therefore, its
strategy is to define its business that it is assigned to compete in, the position, which it plans to
hold and finally the competitive advantages that the company enjoys.
Values of Twitter
The employees feel proud of the purposes of their company as it believes in open
exchange of knowledge to have a positive impact. The company is committed to equality and
internet safety so that the users enjoy their free expression. The company opens doors to
empower the women and minorities across the globe. Twitter works with NGOs to increase
accessibility and proper usage of internet. It affords programs and services to support the victims
when a disaster takes place.
Behavioral Standards of Twitter
The company’s strategy and purpose have managed to serve the employees and their
satisfaction. The company is honest in delivering information to the employees as well as the
users. Opportunity to revise the company’s rules and add separate policy recurred in the
workplace. They have freedom to communicate if they do not like the company’s rules (Mark et
al., 2013).

4LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
Alignment of the values of Twitter with the values of its employees
The fifth element of the Ashridge model states the importance of aligning the values of
the company with the those of the organization. The employees in the company are aligned with
the values of Twitter. The values of Twitter mainly stresses on the importance of the freedom of
expression of each and every person and the power of this freedom to leave an impact on the
world. The employees in the organization also have the freedom to express themselves and grow
along with the organization. The organization works in an innovative manner and also in a fast
pace. The employees can learn a lot while working in the organization. The passion of the
employees about their work and their personalities matter a lot in Twitter. The employees in this
organization are both curious and creative. In this way it can be said that the value of Twitter are
aligned with the values of the employees working here.
Analysis on the expansion of Twitter with respect to its mission statement
From the analysis of the annual report of 2013 it is stated that the company has planned
to expand its international operations to increase its user base (Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-
_FINAL.pdf, 2017). The advertising services of the organization was given importance. The
advertising service of Twitter helps the advertisers to interact directly with their prospective
consumers. The increase in the international operations leads to the increase in the number of
users of the app and also leads to the increase in the number of advertisers. This in turn increases
the revenue of the company. The competition has also increased for the users and the advertisers
of Twitter.
In the year 2014 the user base and the advertiser base of Twitter has increased. The
international users have also increased. The users in other countries which include Brazil,

5LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
Argentina, Germany, France, Japan and India have shown a huge growth. However, the
advertising revenue has not shown a lot of growth in this year
(Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf, 2017). The company has planned to invest more in their
international operations so that it can increase the revenue generated from international
advertisements. The local competition faced by the company acts as a barrier in increasing the
revenue of international advertising.
In the year 2015 to 2017 the company has shown more growth in the number of users.
The number of users in the United States is the highest. However, the number of users in other
countries are expected to show a huge growth in the future years. The competition has also
increased by other platforms, but Twitter has still held its strong position. The number of users in
countries like, France, Canada and Germany has shown a lot of increase recently. The
advertising revenue has also increased both in the United States as well as in the other countries.
The organization has plans to develop new advertising services and products to attract the
advertisers (Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf, 2017).
The management of the company or the leaders have played an important role in the
growth and expansion of the organization. The wrong decisions taken by the management has
also affected the growth of the company and its employees.
From this discussion it can be concluded that Twitter has a strong sense of mission. The
organization has stuck to its mission statement and is continuously working towards the
fulfillment of this mission.

6LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
Question 2
Strategic Decision Making
The strategy involved with the decision making process in an organization is important
for the smooth running of the business operations. This process of strategic decision making
mainly relates to the method of the creation of the objectives and the mission of the company and
take the decision about the way to achieve the goals. This process of strategic decision making
involves the process of planning of the strategies that created so that the goals of the organization
can be achieved easily (Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf. , 2017).
The strategies of the organization change as and when there is a change in the goals of
the organization. The strategies are evaluated at a periodical basis and accordingly changes are
made if necessary. SWOT Analysis can be used for the strategic decision making process. The
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are analyzed and accordingly the strategies are
made keeping these in mind so that the opportunities can be used and threats can be addressed.
Cost-benefit analysis is another process by which strategic decisions can be made. The cost-
benefit analysis assists in the strategic decision making of the managers (Mark et al., 2013).
The Strategic Decisions taken by Twitter
Over the years Twitter has shown a lot of growth with Jack Dorsey as their leader. It has
around 350 million users who are active and approximately one billion thought of the length of
140-characters. The management of the company has taken many wrong steps and made wrong
strategies over the years.

7LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
In the year 2006 Twitter was founded by Dick Costolo, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone. This
year was did not show much growth. In 2007 Twitter was introduced to the users and it had
received as many as 60,000 users that year. In the year 2008 the founder of the company Jack
Dorsey made a big mistake by turning down the offer of 500 million dollars from Facebook to
acquire the company. Jack Dorsey was then fired from Twitter. In 2009 Twitter was seen in a
struggling mode because of the rapid growth of its users. In this year itself Twitter was attacked
by a denial of service, due to which the service was down for many hours
(Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf. , 2017).
In 2010 Twitter was further attacked by cross-site scripting attacks, but the problem was
fixed quickly. This was a basic mistake and was a result of faulty decision making. In the year
2011 Twitter became contentious to other service platforms. The tie-up of Twitter with Google
ended in this year and all the content related to Twitter was deleted from the search engine.
Twitter’s another mistake was made in the year 2012 when it restricted developers from building
apps by replicating the timeline of the company (Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf. , 2017).
The company was in a state of immense turmoil at that time as the trust of the developers
on the company was totally lost, the reason being that the developers suffered due to the sudden
decision of the company. Twitter went through a major change in the year 2013 when blue
conversation line feature was introduced which helped the users to link their conversations.
Another decision of change taken by the management had an adverse effect on the organization.
This was the change that was made in the ‘block’ option of the app
(Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf. , 2017).

8LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
The users who were blocked were just muted from the profiles of the attacked users and
they could still follow the users. This change brought by the company had received a lot of
resentment from the users. The company had to further its strategy and devise a better way to
deal with this problem. In the year 2014, the management took another decision to make Twitter
more user friendly. This step was to introduce algorithmic timeline. This was done by the
management under pressure to sell the shares. In the year 2015 the company was in an immense
turmoil when the CEO of the company resigned. Jack Dorsey was again the CEO of the
company (Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf. , 2017).
Many new strategies and changes were brought in the organization, which included the
increase of character limits and many more. This year itself the company had a lot of lay-offs
following the decision of the CEO. The users also felt a lot of trouble related to the problems of
auto-playing of videos. The company was again at the point of debate by the end of 2015. This
led to the decision of recruiting a head of diversity (Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf. , 2017).
Finally in 2016 the company made a new beginning. The new algorithmic timeline
feature was introduced which was not compulsory for all users and it could be turned off. From
the analysis of the strategic decisions made by the management of Twitter from the year 2006 to
2016 it can be concluded that the company has gone through a lot of turmoil in these years due to
some faulty decisions and wrong strategies.
Difference between deliberate and intended strategy making
Deliberate strategy is the organization’s vision towards the formation of the strategy of
the organization. This is the process of strategy making which mainly emphasizes on the way the
person acts. Planning and thinking is essential before acting. The strategists who follow this

9LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
process also take into consideration the events or developments that are unexpected (Mark et al.,
2013).
On the other hand, intended strategy is type of strategy that the organization intends to
execute or implement in the organization. These strategies are explained in detail in the strategic
plan of the organization. This is also called a business plan which is made before the business is
started.
Competitive advantage of Twitter
The competitive advantages of Twitter are, the nature of sharing the information is instant
and quite fast. The users can choose the source of information from where they intend to follow.
The range of the connectivity of Twitter is much higher as compared to other social networks.
The users range from the homeless to the millionaires and celebrities (Mark et al., 2013).
Sustaining the competitive advantage
The competitive advantage of Twitter over all the other social networking apps has been
sustained over the years. The company has gone through a huge turmoil in all the years since its
inception, but on the other hand it has revived itself and maintained its position in the market.
The various aspects of the organization, namely Twitter are analyzed. The values,
strategies are analyzed. The mission statement of the company is examined. Further, the
alignment of the values of the company with those of the employees is checked. The company
has gone through a lot of turmoil and problems as a result of various wrong strategic decisions
taken by the management of the organization (Mark et al., 2013).

10LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
In spite of all this, the company has held a strong position in the market and also created
its different identity. The financial reports of the company for the years 2013 to 2015 has shown
a lot of growth in the user base of the organization. The revenue of the company has increased
due to the increase of the number of users. The company has also generated huge revenue during
these years from the advertisers (Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf. , 2017). The
organization has expanded globally and has increased its user base in all the other countries.

11LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT AT TWITTER
References
Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf. (2017). Retrieved 28 October 2017, from
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-2F526X/5406085483x0x742484/
A418947A-E065-4822-8BD4-00FA8EB4E795/Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-
_FINAL.pdf
Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf. (2017). Retrieved 28 October 2017, from
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-2F526X/5406085483x0x821792/
AB7B5D27-2CEB-468B-9C9B-469676E3186A/
876564_Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf
Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf. (2017). Retrieved 28 October 2017, from
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-2F526X/5406085483x0x886152/3FBBB
0EC-FDF0-41D2-9C4E-A06AE8B1D1E5/2016_Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf
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