Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture
Tokyo Disneyland was started as a result of a licensing agreement between Walt Disney (WD) of the United States and Oriental Land Corp. (OL) of Japan. The agreement states that WD will receive a license fee of 7% of sales in exchange for providing OL with managerial and technological know-how and assuming small risks in the venture. When WD proposed a second project with OL, OL's senior executives wanted to find a way to make WD a risk-taking partner through investment in the business as a precondition to venturing into the new project. To prepare for the negotiations, OL's executives needed calculations of the project's net present value as seen from WD's standpoint--both in terms of the existing licensing method and one in which WD would share appropriate risks.
Swot Analysis of "Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture" written by Mitsuru Misawa includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wd Ol facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Intellectual property, Joint ventures, Negotiations, Risk management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wd Ol, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wd Ol 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 Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wd Ol
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 Wd Ol
Strengths Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wd Ol in Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Wd Ol 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 Wd Ol in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Wd Ol 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 Mitsuru Misawa 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Wd Ol 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Wd Ol 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 Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Wd Ol has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Wd Ol has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Wd Ol has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Strong track record of project management
– Wd Ol is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Wd Ol 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 Wd Ol is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Wd Ol
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Wd Ol does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Wd Ol 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 Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Wd Ol is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wd Ol to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wd Ol to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture, it seems that the employees of Wd Ol don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Wd Ol 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture, is just above the industry average. Wd Ol 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Wd Ol is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Wd Ol needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Wd Ol to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture, 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 Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture 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 Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Wd Ol is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mitsuru Misawa suggests that, Wd Ol 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Wd Ol, firm in the HBR case study Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Wd Ol is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Wd Ol 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 - Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture, in the dynamic environment Wd Ol has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Wd Ol has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture | 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 Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Wd Ol 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Wd Ol can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Loyalty marketing
– Wd Ol 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Wd Ol 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.
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 Wd Ol 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Wd Ol 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.
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. Wd Ol can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Wd Ol can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Wd Ol has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Wd Ol to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture case study. Wd Ol can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Wd Ol 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Wd Ol 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, Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Wd Ol is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture 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.
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. Wd Ol 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. Wd Ol 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.
Threats Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Wd Ol has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Wd Ol 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.
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. Wd Ol 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 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. Wd Ol needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Wd Ol with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Wd Ol
– 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 Wd Ol.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Wd Ol 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.
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 Wd Ol in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Wd Ol 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.
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 Wd Ol.
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 Wd Ol business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Wd Ol is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Wd Ol 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture, Wd Ol 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture 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 Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture 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 Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture 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 Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture 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 Tokyo Disneyland: Licensing vs. Joint Venture 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 Wd Ol needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
