T Gaia Corp (3738) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Technology)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for T Gaia Corp (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , T Gaia Corp is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that T Gaia Corp can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the T Gaia Corp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which T Gaia Corp 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 T Gaia Corp can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of T Gaia Corp
2. Improving business portfolio management of T Gaia Corp
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Retail (Technology) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of T Gaia Corp
Strengths of T Gaia Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of T Gaia Corp are -
Diverse revenue streams
– T Gaia Corp is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Technology) industry. This has provided T Gaia Corp 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that T Gaia Corp 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.
Organizational Resilience of T Gaia Corp
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing T Gaia Corp does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of T Gaia Corp in the Services sector have low bargaining power. T Gaia Corp has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps T Gaia Corp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Technology) industry
– T Gaia Corp has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled T Gaia Corp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Technology) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped T Gaia Corp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- T Gaia Corp 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 T Gaia Corp is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at T Gaia Corp emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of T Gaia Corp comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Technology) 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.
Innovation driven organization
– T Gaia Corp is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Technology) sector.
Ability to lead change in Retail (Technology)
– T Gaia Corp is one of the leading players in the Retail (Technology) industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Technology) industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled T Gaia Corp in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of T Gaia Corp in Retail (Technology) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– T Gaia Corp has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Technology) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of T Gaia Corp have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the T Gaia Corp 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.
Weaknesses of T Gaia Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of T Gaia Corp are -
Employees’ less understanding of T Gaia Corp strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of T Gaia Corp 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As T Gaia Corp is one of the leading players in the Retail (Technology) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Technology) industry in last five years.
Products dominated business model
– Even though T Gaia Corp has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Technology) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. T Gaia Corp should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
T Gaia Corp has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Retail (Technology) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Lack of clear differentiation of T Gaia Corp products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, T Gaia Corp needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– T Gaia Corp 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.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Technology) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at T Gaia Corp has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that T Gaia Corp needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Technology) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at T Gaia Corp can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as T Gaia Corp is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of T Gaia Corp is just above the Retail (Technology) 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of T Gaia Corp is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Technology) industry, but T Gaia Corp needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help T Gaia Corp to focus more on services in the Retail (Technology) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, T Gaia Corp 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.
T Gaia Corp Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of T Gaia Corp are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– T Gaia Corp has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Technology) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled T Gaia Corp to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help T Gaia Corp to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Technology) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. T Gaia Corp can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– T Gaia Corp can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Technology) 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects T Gaia Corp can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Retail (Technology) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for T Gaia Corp in the Retail (Technology) industry. Now T Gaia Corp can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– T Gaia Corp can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for T Gaia Corp 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.
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 T Gaia Corp 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, T Gaia Corp 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 T Gaia Corp to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, T Gaia Corp can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that T Gaia Corp operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Technology) sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, T Gaia Corp can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Developing new processes and practices
– T Gaia Corp can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Technology) 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, T Gaia Corp is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. T Gaia Corp can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Technology) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats T Gaia Corp External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of T Gaia Corp are -
Environmental challenges
– T Gaia Corp 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. T Gaia Corp can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Technology) industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Technology) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. T Gaia Corp can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– T Gaia Corp 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 Retail (Technology) industry.
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. T Gaia Corp needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Technology) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 T Gaia Corp in the Retail (Technology) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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 T Gaia Corp business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that T Gaia Corp is facing in Retail (Technology) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 T Gaia Corp.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– T Gaia Corp 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– T Gaia Corp has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Technology) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, T Gaia Corp needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Retail (Technology) 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on T Gaia Corp 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 Retail (Technology) industry and other sectors.
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. T Gaia Corp 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of T Gaia Corp Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at T Gaia Corp 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 T Gaia Corp 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 T Gaia Corp 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 T Gaia Corp 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 T Gaia Corp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
