Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998
Throughout the 1990s, Japanese manufacturers had dominated the global market of fax machines. By 1998, alternative forms of messaging like Internet Fax and PC Fax had been gaining ground, and global competition from American, Korean, and Taiwanese manufacturers was stepping up. But all these seemed to pose little threat to Japanese fax machine manufacturers.
Swot Analysis of "Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998" written by Michael J. Enright, Andrew Lee includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Fax Japanese facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fax Japanese, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fax Japanese operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fax Japanese
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 Fax Japanese
Strengths Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Fax Japanese in Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Fax Japanese is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Fax Japanese has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Fax Japanese
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Fax Japanese does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Fax Japanese 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Fax Japanese has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Fax Japanese 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Fax Japanese in the sector have low bargaining power. Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fax Japanese to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Fax Japanese to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Fax Japanese to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Fax Japanese in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Fax Japanese is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Fax Japanese 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 Michael J. Enright, Andrew Lee can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Fax Japanese 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 Fax Japanese in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Fax Japanese has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Fax Japanese to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Fax Japanese, firm in the HBR case study Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 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 Fax Japanese has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fax Japanese is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael J. Enright, Andrew Lee suggests that, Fax Japanese 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 HBR case study mentions - Fax Japanese takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Fax Japanese 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 - Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 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 Fax Japanese 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Fax Japanese 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Fax Japanese products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Fax Japanese needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Fax Japanese 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.
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 Fax Japanese supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Fax Japanese vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Fax Japanese 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Fax Japanese in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Fax Japanese 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. Fax Japanese 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Fax Japanese to increase its market reach. Fax Japanese 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.
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 Fax Japanese in the consumer business. Now Fax Japanese 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. Fax Japanese can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Fax Japanese has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Fax Japanese to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 case study. Fax Japanese can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Fax Japanese 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 Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Fax Japanese can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Fax Japanese 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Fax Japanese can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Fax Japanese operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Fax Japanese 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 Global Business segment.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Fax Japanese can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Fax Japanese with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Fax Japanese 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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Fax Japanese 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 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.
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. Fax Japanese needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Fax Japanese has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Fax Japanese needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998, Fax Japanese 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Fax Japanese 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. Fax Japanese can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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. Fax Japanese 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Fax Japanese 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.
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 Fax Japanese in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Fax Japanese.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1998 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 Fax Japanese needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.