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Nippon Steel Corporation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Nippon Steel Corporation


Nippon Steel Corporation, the largest Japanese steel producer and second largest in the world faces challenges in pursuing strategy to become a true global player. Nippon Steel had long been the top Japanese company, however the emergence of a global player, Arcelor-Mittal, prompted globalization of the steel industry. The company feels the urgent need to also globalize the company by not just increasing overseas production but also making necessary changes to the company structure.

Authors :: Srikant M. Datar, Akiko Kanno

Topics :: Finance & Accounting

Tags :: Cross-cultural management, Emerging markets, Globalization, Reorganization, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Nippon Steel Corporation" written by Srikant M. Datar, Akiko Kanno includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Steel Nippon facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Nippon Steel Corporation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Cross-cultural management, Emerging markets, Globalization, Reorganization and Finance & Accounting.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Nippon Steel Corporation casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nippon Steel Corporation


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Nippon Steel Corporation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Steel Nippon, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Steel Nippon 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 Nippon Steel Corporation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Nippon Steel Corporation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Steel Nippon
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 Steel Nippon




Strengths Nippon Steel Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Steel Nippon in Nippon Steel Corporation Harvard Business Review case study are -

Highly skilled collaborators

– Steel Nippon 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 Nippon Steel Corporation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Strong track record of project management

– Steel Nippon 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

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

Organizational Resilience of Steel Nippon

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Steel Nippon does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field

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

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry

– Nippon Steel Corporation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Steel Nippon to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Steel Nippon to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Innovation driven organization

– Steel Nippon is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Nippon Steel Corporation 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

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

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Steel Nippon 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.

Training and development

– Steel Nippon has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Nippon Steel 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Steel Nippon 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.

Analytics focus

– Steel Nippon 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 Srikant M. Datar, Akiko Kanno 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.






Weaknesses Nippon Steel Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Nippon Steel Corporation are -

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Steel Nippon 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Steel Nippon 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Steel Nippon 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Steel Nippon products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Steel Nippon needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Nippon Steel Corporation, is just above the industry average. Steel Nippon 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Steel Nippon is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Nippon Steel Corporation can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Nippon Steel Corporation, 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Nippon Steel 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 Nippon Steel Corporation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Steel Nippon is planning to shift buying processes online.

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 Steel Nippon supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Nippon Steel Corporation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Steel Nippon vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Steel Nippon 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.




Opportunities Nippon Steel 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 Nippon Steel Corporation are -

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Steel Nippon 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Steel Nippon is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Nippon Steel 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Steel Nippon 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.

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 Steel Nippon 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

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

Developing new processes and practices

– Steel Nippon can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Steel Nippon 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Steel Nippon 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 Nippon Steel Corporation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Steel Nippon to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Better consumer reach

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

Loyalty marketing

– Steel Nippon 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.

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. Steel Nippon can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

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. Steel Nippon can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.




Threats Nippon Steel Corporation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Nippon Steel Corporation are -

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 Steel Nippon.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Nippon Steel Corporation, Steel Nippon 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 .

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Steel Nippon has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Steel Nippon 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.

Environmental challenges

– Steel Nippon 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. Steel Nippon can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.

High level of anxiety and lack of motivation

– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Steel Nippon needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Regulatory challenges

– Steel Nippon 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.

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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Steel Nippon is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing wage structure of Steel Nippon

– 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 Steel Nippon.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Steel Nippon 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 Nippon Steel Corporation .

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Steel Nippon 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

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. Steel Nippon 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Nippon Steel 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 Nippon Steel 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 Nippon Steel 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 Nippon Steel 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 Nippon Steel 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 Steel Nippon needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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