Case Study Description of NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa
Managers of DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone company, are formulating a strategy for mobile FeliCa: contactless integrated circuits that will be built into DoCoMo phones, allowing them to be used for quick and convenient retail or commuter fare payments, building entry, airline boarding passes, and other applications. DoCoMo's managers must determine how best to profit from mobile FeliCa. The options, which are not mutually exclusive, include: increasing mobile phone subscriber acquisition and retention rates by offering "sticky" differentiated new services; extracting monopoly rents from a joint venture (with Sony, FeliCa's inventor) that will license FeliCa technology to other mobile phone companies and application providers; and profiting from eMoney (retail payments) either through partnerships with incumbent financial services firms or by offering payment services directly.
Authors :: Stephen P. Bradley, Masako Egawa, Akiko Kanno, Thomas R. Eisenmann
Swot Analysis of "NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa" written by Stephen P. Bradley, Masako Egawa, Akiko Kanno, Thomas R. Eisenmann includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Felica Mobile facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures, Risk management and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa casestudy better are - – technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Felica Mobile, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Felica Mobile 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, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Felica Mobile
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 Felica Mobile
Strengths NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Felica Mobile in NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Felica Mobile digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Felica Mobile 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.
Learning organization
- Felica Mobile 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 Felica Mobile is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Felica Mobile to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Felica Mobile to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Felica Mobile is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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 Felica Mobile in the sector have low bargaining power. NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Felica Mobile to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Felica Mobile is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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.
Analytics focus
– Felica Mobile 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 Stephen P. Bradley, Masako Egawa, Akiko Kanno, Thomas R. Eisenmann 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Felica Mobile has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Felica Mobile 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Felica Mobile is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Felica Mobile has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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.
Organizational Resilience of Felica Mobile
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Felica Mobile does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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.
Weaknesses NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa, is just above the industry average. Felica Mobile 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Felica Mobile is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Felica Mobile needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Felica Mobile to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Felica Mobile, firm in the HBR case study NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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 Felica Mobile 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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 existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Felica Mobile supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Felica Mobile vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Felica Mobile products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Felica Mobile needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Felica Mobile 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Felica Mobile 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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 NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Felica Mobile is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Felica Mobile has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa | 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, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Felica Mobile 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Felica Mobile 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Felica Mobile 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, NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Felica Mobile can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Felica Mobile operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Felica Mobile can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Felica Mobile is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Felica Mobile 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
– Felica Mobile can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Felica Mobile can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Felica Mobile can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Felica Mobile can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Felica Mobile 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Felica Mobile can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Felica Mobile 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 Felica Mobile to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Felica Mobile 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Felica Mobile 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.
Increasing wage structure of Felica Mobile
– 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 Felica Mobile.
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 Felica Mobile in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Felica Mobile business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Felica Mobile 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Felica Mobile is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Felica Mobile 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. Felica Mobile can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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. Felica Mobile needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Felica Mobile 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
– Felica Mobile has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Felica Mobile 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Felica Mobile 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Felica Mobile 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa 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 Felica Mobile needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
