Motorola and Japan (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Motorola and Japan (A)
In 1981, Motorola was reevaluating its strategy towards Japan. The firm had been successful in penetrating the Japanese market, and it was confronting increased Japanese competition at home. How it should respond and with what kind of organization were the central questions confronting management.
Swot Analysis of "Motorola and Japan (A)" written by David B. Yoffie, John J. Coleman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Motorola Confronting facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Motorola and Japan (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Government, International business, Marketing and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Motorola and Japan (A) casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Motorola and Japan (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Motorola and Japan (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Motorola Confronting, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Motorola Confronting 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 Motorola and Japan (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Motorola and Japan (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Motorola Confronting
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Motorola Confronting
Strengths Motorola and Japan (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Motorola Confronting in Motorola and Japan (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Motorola Confronting 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 Motorola and Japan (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Motorola Confronting in the sector have low bargaining power. Motorola and Japan (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Motorola Confronting to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Motorola and Japan (A) 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Motorola Confronting is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Motorola and Japan (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Motorola Confronting is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Motorola and Japan (A) 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.
Organizational Resilience of Motorola Confronting
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Motorola Confronting does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Motorola Confronting 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 Motorola and Japan (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Motorola Confronting in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Motorola and Japan (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Motorola Confronting to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Motorola Confronting to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Motorola Confronting has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Motorola Confronting 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Motorola Confronting 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
– Motorola Confronting has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Motorola and Japan (A) 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.
Weaknesses Motorola and Japan (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Motorola and Japan (A) are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Motorola and Japan (A), it seems that the employees of Motorola Confronting 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Motorola Confronting is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Motorola Confronting needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Motorola Confronting to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Motorola and Japan (A) 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 Motorola Confronting has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Motorola Confronting is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Motorola and Japan (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Motorola Confronting products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Motorola Confronting needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Motorola Confronting supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Motorola and Japan (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Motorola Confronting vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Motorola Confronting has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Motorola Confronting even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Motorola Confronting 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Motorola and Japan (A) 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 Motorola Confronting 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Motorola and Japan (A), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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 Motorola and Japan (A) 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 Motorola and Japan (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Motorola Confronting is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Motorola and Japan (A) | 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 Motorola and Japan (A) are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Motorola Confronting can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Motorola Confronting 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Motorola Confronting 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, Motorola Confronting can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Motorola Confronting operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Motorola Confronting 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 Motorola and Japan (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Motorola Confronting to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Motorola Confronting 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 Motorola Confronting to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Motorola Confronting in the consumer business. Now Motorola Confronting can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Motorola Confronting 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Motorola Confronting 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Motorola Confronting has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Motorola Confronting to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Motorola and Japan (A) case study. Motorola Confronting can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Motorola Confronting is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Motorola and Japan (A) 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Motorola Confronting 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.
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. Motorola Confronting can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Motorola and Japan (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Motorola and Japan (A) are -
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. Motorola Confronting needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Motorola Confronting 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Motorola Confronting 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.
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 Motorola Confronting business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Motorola Confronting 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. Motorola Confronting can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Motorola and Japan (A), Motorola Confronting may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Motorola Confronting 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 Motorola and Japan (A) .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Motorola Confronting 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Motorola Confronting 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 Global Business industry regulations.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Motorola Confronting 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 Motorola Confronting in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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 Motorola Confronting.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Motorola Confronting can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Motorola and Japan (A) 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 Motorola and Japan (A) 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 Motorola and Japan (A) 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 Motorola and Japan (A) 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 Motorola and Japan (A) 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 Motorola Confronting needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.