The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response
CEO Kikawa of Yamato Transport gave orders to his managers right after the triple disaster hit the Tohoku region of Japan to do whatever it takes to save lives and not to worry about costs. He also felt that he had to confront the government to make donations to the affected district tax-free. He also wanted to donate 10 yen per Takkyubin package the company was delivering as relief money for Tohoku but was wondering how the shareholders would react to this proposal.
Authors :: Hirotaka Takeuchi, Leonard Kosinski, Christina Royce, Anna Stetsovskaya
Swot Analysis of "The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response" written by Hirotaka Takeuchi, Leonard Kosinski, Christina Royce, Anna Stetsovskaya includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tohoku Yamato facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tohoku Yamato, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tohoku Yamato 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tohoku Yamato
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 Tohoku Yamato
Strengths The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tohoku Yamato in The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Tohoku Yamato has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Tohoku Yamato 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Tohoku Yamato is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Tohoku Yamato are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Tohoku Yamato 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Tohoku Yamato has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Tohoku Yamato to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Tohoku Yamato in the sector have low bargaining power. The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Tohoku Yamato to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Tohoku Yamato has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Tohoku Yamato in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Tohoku Yamato is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Tohoku Yamato 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Tohoku Yamato 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 Hirotaka Takeuchi, Leonard Kosinski, Christina Royce, Anna Stetsovskaya 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Tohoku Yamato has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Tohoku Yamato, firm in the HBR case study The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Tohoku Yamato is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Tohoku Yamato needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Tohoku Yamato to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response, is just above the industry average. Tohoku Yamato 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Tohoku Yamato 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 - The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Tohoku Yamato supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Tohoku Yamato vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Tohoku Yamato 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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 Tohoku Yamato has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Tohoku Yamato 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tohoku Yamato is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Hirotaka Takeuchi, Leonard Kosinski, Christina Royce, Anna Stetsovskaya suggests that, Tohoku Yamato 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.
Opportunities The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response | 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Tohoku Yamato can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Tohoku Yamato operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Tohoku Yamato can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Tohoku Yamato 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 Tohoku Yamato can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Tohoku Yamato is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Tohoku Yamato 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Tohoku Yamato can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Tohoku Yamato 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, The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Tohoku Yamato 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. Tohoku Yamato 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Tohoku Yamato 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Tohoku Yamato 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Tohoku Yamato 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Tohoku Yamato 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.
Threats The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Tohoku Yamato 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.
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. Tohoku Yamato 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Tohoku Yamato with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Tohoku Yamato 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Tohoku Yamato is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Tohoku Yamato 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 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. Tohoku Yamato needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Tohoku Yamato
– 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 Tohoku Yamato.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Tohoku Yamato 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response .
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. Tohoku Yamato can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Tohoku Yamato 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. Tohoku Yamato can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response, Tohoku Yamato 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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 The Great East Japan Earthquake E: Yamato Transport's Response 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 Tohoku Yamato needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
