CASE 10
Etsy Inc.: Reimagining Innovation
Assignment Questions
1. What are the major elements of Etsy’s competitive strategy in e-commerce? How well do the pieces fit
together? Is the strategy evolving?
2. Explain the competitive pressures facing the online marketplace for handcrafted goods industry. What does
a five-forces analysis reveal about the nature and strength of the competitive pressures facing Etsy? Which
of the five forces is the strongest? Which of the five forces is weakest?
3. What does a competitive strength assessment reveal about Etsy’s e-commerce business, as compared to the
leaders in the e-commerce retail industry? Use the methodology in Table 4.3 to support your answer.
4. Does it make good strategic sense for Etsy to be a competitor in both the Marketplace and Seller Services
segments? Which one of its product lines — Marketplace and Seller Services — do you think is most important
to Etsy’s future growth and profitability? Why? Should either of these product lines be discontinued?
5. What is your assessment of Etsy’s financial performance over the 2013 – 2015 period? (Use the financial
ratios in the Appendix of the text as a guide in doing your financial analysis.)
6. What strategic issues confront Etsy in 2015? What market or internal circumstances should most concern
Chad Dickerson and the company’s senior leadership team?
7. What recommendations would you make to Etsy to address the strategic issues confronting it in 2016 in
order to sustain its impressive growth in revenues and achieve profitability?
CASE ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS