Case Study Description of Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff
The case presents a biographical portrait of Yoshiko Shinohara who founded Tempstaff in 1973, one of the largest temporary staffing agencies in Japan. In addition to chronicling Shinohara's entrepreneurial activities, the case provides contextual background about the role of women in business in Japan in the last few decades of the 20th century.
Authors :: Anthony J. Mayo, Masako Egawa, Mayuka Yamazaki
Swot Analysis of "Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff" written by Anthony J. Mayo, Masako Egawa, Mayuka Yamazaki includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Shinohara Tempstaff facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Gender, Government and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Shinohara Tempstaff, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Shinohara Tempstaff 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 Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Shinohara Tempstaff
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Shinohara Tempstaff
Strengths Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Shinohara Tempstaff in Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Shinohara Tempstaff 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
- Shinohara Tempstaff 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 Shinohara Tempstaff is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Shinohara Tempstaff to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Shinohara Tempstaff to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Shinohara Tempstaff in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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
– Shinohara Tempstaff is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Shinohara Tempstaff digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Shinohara Tempstaff has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Innovation driven organization
– Shinohara Tempstaff is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Shinohara Tempstaff
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Shinohara Tempstaff does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Shinohara Tempstaff has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Shinohara Tempstaff is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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.
Weaknesses Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Shinohara Tempstaff is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Shinohara Tempstaff needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Shinohara Tempstaff 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 Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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 Shinohara Tempstaff has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Shinohara Tempstaff has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff HBR case study mentions - Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff, is just above the industry average. Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff, it seems that the employees of Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff, in the dynamic environment Shinohara Tempstaff has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Shinohara Tempstaff has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Shinohara Tempstaff is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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 Shinohara Tempstaff 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 - Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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 Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Shinohara Tempstaff is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff | 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 Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Shinohara Tempstaff can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Shinohara Tempstaff can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Shinohara Tempstaff 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 Shinohara Tempstaff to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Shinohara Tempstaff has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Shinohara Tempstaff to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff case study. Shinohara Tempstaff can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Shinohara Tempstaff can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Shinohara Tempstaff operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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 Shinohara Tempstaff in the consumer business. Now Shinohara Tempstaff can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Shinohara Tempstaff is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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.
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 Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Shinohara Tempstaff 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, Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Shinohara Tempstaff can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Shinohara Tempstaff can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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.
Threats Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff are -
Increasing wage structure of Shinohara Tempstaff
– 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 Shinohara Tempstaff.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Shinohara Tempstaff can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Shinohara Tempstaff 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. Shinohara Tempstaff can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People 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 Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff, Shinohara Tempstaff may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
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 Shinohara Tempstaff.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Shinohara Tempstaff has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Shinohara Tempstaff needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Shinohara Tempstaff business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Shinohara Tempstaff in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Shinohara Tempstaff in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Shinohara Tempstaff 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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 Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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 Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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 Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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 Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff 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 Shinohara Tempstaff needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.