Swot Analysis of "Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan" written by Malcolm S. Salter, Andrew Eggers includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Elite Adjust facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Motivating people and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Elite Adjust, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Elite Adjust 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 Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Elite Adjust
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Elite Adjust
Strengths Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Elite Adjust in Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Elite Adjust in the sector have low bargaining power. Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Elite Adjust to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Elite Adjust 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 Malcolm S. Salter, Andrew Eggers 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Elite Adjust is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Elite Adjust digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Elite Adjust 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Elite Adjust 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 Elite Adjust in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Elite Adjust has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Elite Adjust 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Elite Adjust 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 Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Elite Adjust
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Elite Adjust does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Elite Adjust has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Elite Adjust to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Elite Adjust 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Elite Adjust to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Elite Adjust to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Malcolm S. Salter, Andrew Eggers suggests that, Elite Adjust 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Elite Adjust 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, is just above the industry average. Elite Adjust needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Elite Adjust 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan 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 Elite Adjust has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Elite Adjust supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Elite Adjust vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Elite Adjust is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Elite Adjust needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Elite Adjust to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan HBR case study mentions - Elite Adjust 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Elite Adjust 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan 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 Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Elite Adjust is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan | 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 Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Elite Adjust 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 Elite Adjust to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Elite Adjust can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Elite Adjust 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Elite Adjust to increase its market reach. Elite Adjust 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Elite Adjust 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 Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Elite Adjust to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Elite Adjust is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Elite Adjust can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Elite Adjust 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. Elite Adjust 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Elite Adjust 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Elite Adjust can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Elite Adjust 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Elite Adjust can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Elite Adjust operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Elite Adjust in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Elite Adjust has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Elite Adjust needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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
– Elite Adjust 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Elite Adjust 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 Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Elite Adjust 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Elite Adjust is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, Elite Adjust may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
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 Elite Adjust.
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 Elite Adjust in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Elite Adjust can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Elite Adjust 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Elite Adjust 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Elite Adjust in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Environmental challenges
– Elite Adjust 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. Elite Adjust can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan 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 Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan 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 Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan 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 Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan 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 Japanese Financial Crisis and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan 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 Elite Adjust needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.