Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd (9010) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Recreational Activities
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Recreational Activities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd
Strengths of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd are -
Ability to lead change in Recreational Activities
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd is one of the leading players in the Recreational Activities industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Recreational Activities industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Recreational Activities industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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.
Learning organization
- Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Recreational Activities industry. This has provided Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Recreational Activities industry
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Recreational Activities industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Recreational Activities 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Recreational Activities sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd in Recreational Activities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd staying ahead in the Recreational Activities industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Recreational Activities industry, but Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd to focus more on services in the Recreational Activities industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ less understanding of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Recreational Activities industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Recreational Activities industry using digital technology.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd has high operating costs in the Recreational Activities industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd lucrative customers.
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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Recreational Activities industry, Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Need for greater diversity
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd has some of the most successful models in the Recreational Activities industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Recreational Activities industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Recreational Activities industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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.
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. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd to increase its market reach. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Recreational Activities sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Recreational Activities 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Recreational Activities industry. This can help Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd to build a more holistic ecosystem for Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd products in the Recreational Activities industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Recreational Activities industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd can develop new processes and procedures in Recreational Activities 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, Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Recreational Activities industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Recreational Activities 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.
Threats Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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.
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 disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Recreational Activities industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd is facing in Recreational Activities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Recreational Activities industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Recreational Activities 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.
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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd in the Recreational Activities sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Recreational Activities industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd prominent markets.
Environmental challenges
– Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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. Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Recreational Activities industry.
Increasing wage structure of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd
– 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd in Recreational Activities industry. The Recreational Activities 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd 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 Fuji Kyuko Co Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.