Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc (4182) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Chemical Manufacturing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Chemical Manufacturing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc
Strengths of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc is one of the leading players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in Japan. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Japan. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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.
Learning organization
- Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Chemical Manufacturing industry
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc is one of the most innovative firm in Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Training and development
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Chemical Manufacturing industry
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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.
Weaknesses of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc to provide better information regarding Chemical Manufacturing products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Chemical Manufacturing industry. 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Chemical Manufacturing industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc is just above the Chemical Manufacturing industry average. It 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has some of the most successful models in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Chemical Manufacturing industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has high operating costs in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc, in the dynamic environment of Chemical Manufacturing industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Chemical Manufacturing industry over the last five years. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, but Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc to focus more on services in the Chemical Manufacturing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc are -
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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Chemical Manufacturing sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc can utilize new technology in the field of Chemical Manufacturing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Chemical Manufacturing industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Chemical Manufacturing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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.
Threats Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc is facing in Chemical Manufacturing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Chemical Manufacturing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Chemical Manufacturing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc in the Chemical Manufacturing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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.
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.
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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc in Chemical Manufacturing industry. The Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Environmental challenges
– Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Chemical Manufacturing industry.
Increasing wage structure of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc
– 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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc 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 Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co Inc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.