BUSINESS STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE SERVICE PROVIDER IN THE COVID-19 ERA

COVID-19 pandemic era stimulates a more competitive environment in the business of the language industry. Appropriate business strategy development to respond and to determine business direction become crucial for language service providers. The qualitative descriptive methodology applied to this study, and data for analysis was collected through interviews with the owner and CEO of Cakrawala Translation Service – one of the language service providers in Indonesia, which was established in 2000. Further analysis was conducted on the language industry micro and macro environment, key success factors of the industry, and business core competence. The strategy formulation was carried out through TOWS (Threat, Opportunity, Weakness, and Strength) matrix analysis. Results of the analysis shown Cakrawala Translation Service has several business strategy alternatives, which makes it possible to implement in order to embrace current and future business competition in the language industry. The business strategy alternatives are marketing penetration, updated technology, and uniqueness of service. The study results can be used to provide recommendations for language service providers to develop their business strategy in the COVID-19 pandemic era.