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Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work


Tamago-ya is a family-owned business located in Tokyo, Japan. The company has captured a unique position in the market of selling pre-packaged lunch boxes to business professionals by maintaining high quality and reliable delivery. In order for Tamago-ya to guarantee such a high level of customer service, it has created an operational culture wherein those who deliver orders also engage in judging customer demand and feedback, those who supply food materials must be able to respond to variation in demand on a daily basis, and those who plan the production and distribution schedule must forecast and adjust on a real-time basis. Tamago-ya competes with convenience stores, which offer less variety in their menu options throughout the month, can stock-out on popular choices, and tend to have long lines during the lunchtime rush. However, Tamago-ya is faced with many challenges--including demand forecasting, supply planning, and long-term strategic planning.

Authors :: Jin Whang, Shinya Fushimi, Jason Kaminsky, Veronica Rocha

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: Customer service, Manufacturing, Supply chain, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work" written by Jin Whang, Shinya Fushimi, Jason Kaminsky, Veronica Rocha includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tamago Ya facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customer service, Manufacturing, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tamago Ya, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tamago Ya 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 Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tamago Ya
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Tamago Ya




Strengths Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Tamago Ya in Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work Harvard Business Review case study are -

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Tamago Ya in the sector have low bargaining power. Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Tamago Ya to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Tamago Ya 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 Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Tamago Ya 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Tamago Ya is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field

– Tamago Ya 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 Tamago Ya in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Innovation driven organization

– Tamago Ya is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work 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

– Tamago Ya has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Tamago Ya to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Tamago Ya digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Tamago Ya 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Tamago Ya 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

– Tamago Ya has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Tamago Ya 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.

Learning organization

- Tamago Ya 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 Tamago Ya is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.






Weaknesses Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work are -

Need for greater diversity

– Tamago Ya 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work HBR case study mentions - Tamago Ya 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 dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work 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 Tamago Ya has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Tamago Ya is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Tamago Ya needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Tamago Ya to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Tamago Ya 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. Tamago Ya 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jin Whang, Shinya Fushimi, Jason Kaminsky, Veronica Rocha suggests that, Tamago Ya 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.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Tamago Ya 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work, in the dynamic environment Tamago Ya has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Tamago Ya has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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 Tamago Ya supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Tamago Ya vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work 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 Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tamago Ya is planning to shift buying processes online.




Opportunities Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work | 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 Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work are -

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Tamago Ya can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Tamago Ya 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 Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Tamago Ya to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Loyalty marketing

– Tamago Ya 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.

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 Tamago Ya 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Tamago Ya 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Tamago Ya can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Tamago Ya in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Tamago Ya to increase its market reach. Tamago Ya 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Tamago Ya 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 Technology & Operations segment.

Buying journey improvements

– Tamago Ya can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work 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 Tamago Ya 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 Tamago Ya to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

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 Tamago Ya in the consumer business. Now Tamago Ya can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Manufacturing automation

– Tamago Ya can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations 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.




Threats Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work are -

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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Tamago Ya has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tamago Ya needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.

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. Tamago Ya 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Tamago Ya 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Tamago Ya 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 Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work .

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Tamago Ya is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Tamago Ya with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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 Tamago Ya.

Regulatory challenges

– Tamago Ya 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 Technology & Operations 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. Tamago Ya needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Tamago Ya can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Tamago Ya 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Tamago Ya 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work 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 Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work 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 Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work 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 Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work 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 Tamago-ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work 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 Tamago Ya needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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