Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation
Japan's corporate culture has traditionally prioritized the interests of stakeholders such as employees and suppliers over those of shareholders. After a decades-long economic slump, Japan's government has begun efforts to improve corporate governance and firms' incentives to engage with shareholders. Misaki Capital was founded in 2013 with a strategy of constructively engaging with portfolio firms, providing operational and financial advice to management in order to improve shareholder value. This case asks students to consider the attractiveness of Japanese equities given recent reforms and to evaluate the investment approach of Misaki Capital.
Authors :: Ian D Gow, Charles C.Y. Wang, Naoko Jinjo, Nobuo Sato
Swot Analysis of "Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation" written by Ian D Gow, Charles C.Y. Wang, Naoko Jinjo, Nobuo Sato includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Misaki Japan's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate communications, Corporate governance, Financial analysis, Financial management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Misaki Japan's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Misaki Japan's 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 Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Misaki Japan's
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 Misaki Japan's
Strengths Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Misaki Japan's in Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Misaki Japan's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Misaki Japan's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Misaki Japan's 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 Misaki Japan's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Misaki Japan's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Misaki Japan's 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Misaki Japan's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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.
Training and development
– Misaki Japan's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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 Misaki Japan's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Misaki Japan's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Misaki Japan's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Misaki Japan's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Misaki Japan's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Misaki Japan's in the sector have low bargaining power. Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Misaki Japan's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Misaki Japan's 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Misaki Japan's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Misaki Japan's 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.
Weaknesses Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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 Misaki Japan's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ian D Gow, Charles C.Y. Wang, Naoko Jinjo, Nobuo Sato suggests that, Misaki Japan's 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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 Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Misaki Japan's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation, in the dynamic environment Misaki Japan's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Misaki Japan's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Misaki Japan's 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 - Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Misaki Japan's has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High 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 Misaki Japan's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Misaki Japan's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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 Misaki Japan's 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Misaki Japan's 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Misaki Japan's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Misaki Japan's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Misaki Japan's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Misaki Japan's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Misaki Japan's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation | 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 Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Misaki Japan's 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.
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 Misaki Japan's in the consumer business. Now Misaki Japan's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Misaki Japan's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Misaki Japan's 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Misaki Japan's 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 Misaki Japan's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Misaki Japan's 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. Misaki Japan's 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Misaki Japan's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Misaki Japan's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Misaki Japan's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Misaki Japan's to increase its market reach. Misaki Japan's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Misaki Japan's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Misaki Japan's 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, Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Misaki Japan's 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Misaki Japan's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Misaki Japan's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation case study. Misaki Japan's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation are -
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 Misaki Japan's in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Misaki Japan's 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Misaki Japan's 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 Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation .
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.
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 Misaki Japan's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Misaki Japan's
– 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 Misaki Japan's.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Misaki Japan's 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Misaki Japan's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Misaki Japan's 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Misaki Japan's is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Misaki Japan's 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. Misaki Japan's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Misaki Japan's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Misaki Japan's 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.
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 Misaki Japan's.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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 Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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 Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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 Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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 Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation 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 Misaki Japan's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.