NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications
In slightly over 2 years, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading wireless telecommunications network provider, has been able to win over 30 million subscribers to i-mode, its mobile Internet service. i-mode represents the first successful implementation of the convergence of the Internet and mobile telephony into a new industry. This article examines the origins of i-mode's success, both in terms of NTT DoCoMo's technological strategy and business model and why Japan has proven such a fruitful environment for mobile Internet. It also explores whether i-mode's success provides a global first-mover advantage to NTT DoCoMo's plans to employ strategic partnerships to spread the i-mode standard.
Swot Analysis of "NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications" written by John Ratliff includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ntt Mode facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Internet, Joint ventures and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ntt Mode, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ntt Mode 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 NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ntt Mode
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ntt Mode
Strengths NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ntt Mode in NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ntt Mode digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ntt Mode 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ntt Mode in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Ntt Mode is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ntt Mode has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ntt Mode 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.
Training and development
– Ntt Mode has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications 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.
Analytics focus
– Ntt Mode is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by John Ratliff can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ntt Mode in the sector have low bargaining power. NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ntt Mode to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Ntt Mode
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ntt Mode does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ntt Mode is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Ntt Mode is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Ntt Mode has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ntt Mode to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ntt Mode has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Weaknesses NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Ntt Mode products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ntt Mode needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ntt Mode has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Ntt Mode 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications 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 Ntt Mode has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ntt Mode has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John Ratliff suggests that, Ntt Mode 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ntt Mode needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications HBR case study mentions - Ntt Mode 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ntt Mode has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Ntt Mode even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications, in the dynamic environment Ntt Mode has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ntt Mode has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ntt Mode, firm in the HBR case study NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications | 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 NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ntt Mode 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 Ntt Mode to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ntt Mode has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ntt Mode to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ntt Mode 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ntt Mode is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Ntt Mode in the consumer business. Now Ntt Mode can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ntt Mode in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ntt Mode can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ntt Mode operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Ntt Mode to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Loyalty marketing
– Ntt Mode has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ntt Mode can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Ntt Mode can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ntt Mode 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ntt Mode 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.
Threats NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications are -
Regulatory challenges
– Ntt Mode 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
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. Ntt Mode 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.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Ntt Mode business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ntt Mode demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications, Ntt Mode may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Ntt Mode can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ntt Mode has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ntt Mode needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ntt Mode 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 NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ntt Mode in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ntt Mode 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Ntt Mode in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Ntt Mode
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Ntt Mode.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications 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 NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications 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 NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications 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 NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications 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 NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications 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 Ntt Mode needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
