Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty
Ted Katagi, marketing strategy manager of Kansai Digital Phone (KDP), utilizes customer lifetime value as a key metric to prioritize initiatives in an emergency plan to turn around the company. KDP is a regional phone company in Japan with less than stellar performance. Katagi is sent from the U.S. partner, Airtouch (later Vodafone), to assemble a team to design and implement a plan that improves company to performance. Katagi must quickly prioritize actions and then assess the expected economic impact.
Authors :: F. Asis Martinez-Jerez, James R. Dillon
Swot Analysis of "Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty" written by F. Asis Martinez-Jerez, James R. Dillon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Katagi Kansai facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Cross-cultural management, Customers, Strategy, Time management and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Katagi Kansai, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Katagi Kansai operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Katagi Kansai
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Katagi Kansai
Strengths Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Katagi Kansai in Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Katagi Kansai has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Katagi Kansai is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Learning organization
- Katagi Kansai is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Katagi Kansai is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Katagi Kansai digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Katagi Kansai has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Katagi Kansai has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Katagi Kansai has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Katagi Kansai has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Katagi Kansai has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Innovation driven organization
– Katagi Kansai is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Katagi Kansai in the sector have low bargaining power. Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Katagi Kansai to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Katagi Kansai in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Katagi Kansai is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Katagi Kansai in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Katagi Kansai has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty HBR case study mentions - Katagi Kansai takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, F. Asis Martinez-Jerez, James R. Dillon suggests that, Katagi Kansai is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Katagi Kansai is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty, is just above the industry average. Katagi Kansai needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Katagi Kansai has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Katagi Kansai has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Lack of clear differentiation of Katagi Kansai products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Katagi Kansai needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty, it seems that the employees of Katagi Kansai don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Katagi Kansai, firm in the HBR case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Katagi Kansai can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Katagi Kansai can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Katagi Kansai can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Katagi Kansai can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Katagi Kansai operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Katagi Kansai can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Katagi Kansai to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Manufacturing automation
– Katagi Kansai can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Katagi Kansai to increase its market reach. Katagi Kansai will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Katagi Kansai to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Katagi Kansai to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Katagi Kansai can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Katagi Kansai has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Katagi Kansai to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty case study. Katagi Kansai can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Katagi Kansai can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Katagi Kansai in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Katagi Kansai can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty .
Regulatory challenges
– Katagi Kansai needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty, Katagi Kansai may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Katagi Kansai with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Katagi Kansai will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Katagi Kansai in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Katagi Kansai.
Environmental challenges
– Katagi Kansai needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Katagi Kansai can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Katagi Kansai high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Katagi Kansai can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Katagi Kansai has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Katagi Kansai needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Katagi Kansai needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Kansai Digital Phone: Zutto, Gaining Japanese Loyalty is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Katagi Kansai needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
