Canon Marketing Japan Inc (8060) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Office Equipment
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Canon Marketing Japan Inc (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Canon Marketing Japan Inc is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Canon Marketing Japan Inc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Canon Marketing Japan Inc can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Canon Marketing Japan Inc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Canon Marketing Japan 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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Canon Marketing Japan Inc
2. Improving business portfolio management of Canon Marketing Japan Inc
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Office Equipment sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Canon Marketing Japan Inc
Strengths of Canon Marketing Japan Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Canon Marketing Japan Inc are -
Analytics focus
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc 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 Office Equipment industry. The technology infrastructure of Japan is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Canon Marketing Japan 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Canon Marketing Japan 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Office Equipment industry
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Canon Marketing Japan Inc to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Office Equipment industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Canon Marketing Japan Inc to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Canon Marketing Japan 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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Canon Marketing Japan Inc emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Canon Marketing Japan Inc staying ahead in the Office Equipment industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Canon Marketing Japan 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Canon Marketing Japan Inc in Office Equipment industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc is present in almost all the verticals within the Office Equipment industry. This has provided Canon Marketing Japan Inc 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc is one of the most innovative firm in Office Equipment sector.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc is one of the leading players in the Office Equipment 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.
Training and development
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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.
Weaknesses of Canon Marketing Japan Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Canon Marketing Japan Inc are -
Need for greater diversity
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Canon Marketing Japan Inc, in the dynamic environment of Office Equipment industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Canon Marketing Japan Inc has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Canon Marketing Japan Inc, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Office Equipment 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Canon Marketing Japan 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 Office Equipment industry over the last five years. Canon Marketing Japan 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Canon Marketing Japan Inc is one of the leading players in the Office Equipment industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Office Equipment industry in last five years.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Canon Marketing Japan Inc is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Canon Marketing Japan Inc to provide better information regarding Office Equipment products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Canon Marketing Japan Inc products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Canon Marketing Japan Inc needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on Canon Marketing Japan Inc ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Canon Marketing Japan Inc still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Office Equipment industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Canon Marketing Japan Inc has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Canon Marketing Japan Inc is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Canon Marketing Japan Inc vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Canon Marketing Japan Inc is just above the Office Equipment 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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc has some of the most successful models in the Office Equipment industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Canon Marketing Japan Inc should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Canon Marketing Japan Inc Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Canon Marketing Japan Inc are -
Loyalty marketing
– Canon Marketing Japan 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Office Equipment sector. 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 Canon Marketing Japan 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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Canon Marketing Japan 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 Canon Marketing Japan 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Office Equipment sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Canon Marketing Japan Inc to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Canon Marketing Japan Inc to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Canon Marketing Japan 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Office Equipment industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Canon Marketing Japan Inc can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Canon Marketing Japan Inc in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Office Equipment industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Canon Marketing Japan Inc to increase its market reach. Canon Marketing Japan Inc 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.
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 Canon Marketing Japan 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc can develop new processes and procedures in Office Equipment 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.
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. Canon Marketing Japan Inc can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Canon Marketing Japan Inc can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Office Equipment 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.
Threats Canon Marketing Japan Inc External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Canon Marketing Japan Inc are -
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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Canon Marketing Japan 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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Office Equipment industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Canon Marketing Japan Inc 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
– Canon Marketing Japan 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. Canon Marketing Japan Inc can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Office Equipment industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Canon Marketing Japan Inc is facing in Office Equipment sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Canon Marketing Japan Inc in Office Equipment industry. The Office Equipment 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.
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.
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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Canon Marketing Japan 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 Office Equipment sector.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Canon Marketing Japan Inc 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 Office Equipment industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Canon Marketing Japan 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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc prominent markets.
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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc in the Office Equipment sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Canon Marketing Japan Inc Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Canon Marketing Japan 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 Canon Marketing Japan 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 Canon Marketing Japan 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 Canon Marketing Japan 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 Canon Marketing Japan Inc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
