PROPOSED BUSINESS STRATEGY FOR A PROFITABLE AND SUSTAINABLE STARTUP COMPANY: CASE OF ETAPASBAR

• Main Author: Nugraha, Andhitiawarman
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Manajemen umum
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/71566
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

With fashion products as its main commodity, Pasar Baru Bandung is one of Bandung’s shopping and tourism icons. With around 4600 stores, consumers come from all over Bandung, including domestic and foreign travelers from Malaysia, Singapore, and even Thailand. Its products are known to have quality and competitive prices, so it is not surprising that the overall turnover of the daily transaction amount in Pasar Baru can reach 15 billion rupiahs. Nevertheless, Pasar Baru Bandung must not be caught off guard. The pandemic has accelerated the changes in habits that occurred in Industrial Era 4.0. The emergence of new habits and compulsions during the pandemic, including changes in how customers move and shop, must also be considered and anticipated. Whether they like it or not, sooner or later, Pasar Baru Bandung will have to penetrate the digital market to adjust to the needs, demands, and behaviors of customers that are constantly changing. During the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak, this pandemic not only reduced the number of customer visits significantly but also paralyzed Pasar Baru Bandung completely due to the emergency PPKM (enforcement of community activity restrictions) for several weeks. Etapasbar, as a startup company, was established to raise awareness and encourage the solidarity of conventional market traders in Pasar Baru Bandung to adapt jointly to the challenges and demands of the current market. The vision is to bridge all traditional market traders so they can continue existing, increase market share, and conduct offline and online transactions. After operating for almost three years, Etapasbar, born in a difficult time amid the uncertainty of pandemic conditions, has experienced various dynamics in business and organizations. In welcoming the economic recovery period optimistically, the following question is what the founders of Etapasbar have in mind today. What success factors does Etapasbar need to develop and own as a startup company? What strategies does management need to develop to become a profitable and sustainable company? An observation has been made to find out how things work in Etapasbar and answer these two questions. As part of the data collection, interviews have also been conducted with several stakeholders in Etapasbar to get a clear and accurate picture of the conditions in the Etapasbar organization, both in the form of one-on-one indepth interviews and in the form of Focus Group Discussions (FGD). A startup company can be successful if it can create a profitable business and provide a positive social impact. Learning from startup companies that have already been successful, there are at least five success factors that must be given priority for Etapasbar, namely: 1) Synergy between team members, 2) Appropriate processes, 3) Innovation Management, 4) Communication, and 5) Experience. These five factors are found with the thinnest presence, so they must be prioritized in developing them to make them the factors supporting success in Etapasbar. When analyzed more deeply, the usefulness of these factors has also turned into the main issue that could prevent Etapasbar's success. Based on the findings in this study, several programs were compiled as part of a business strategy. So far, management has implemented a very agile business strategy in response to field conditions. However, the business strategy has yet to be implemented with a clear target to measure its success. In the future, it will be a challenge to shift the company culture so that it can implement business strategies and tactics that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). Etapasbar, a startup still on the scale of MSMEs, still has many funding and human resources limitations. Therefore, in its implementation, the strategy that has been prepared needs to be implemented gradually. It needs to be reviewed and evaluated periodically, at least quarterly or semesterly.